Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season is getting underway after the team finished above .500 but failing to make the postseason last year, we turn our attention to the next chapter of Steelers football and everything that entails. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on more specific contexts as we get into the season, reflecting more immediate plusses and minus rather than trends over long periods. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: RB Jaylen Warren
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: The second-year back was the main protagonist of the Steelers’ sixth win of the season through their first nine games. In what might be tabbed a career game, he rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries and, together with RB Najee Harris, was the catalyst of what little offense Pittsburgh could muster—nearly outproducing the team’s aerial yardage on his own.
Setting aside the segment of the fan base that can never be happy without dominant wins that clearly indicate impending postseason success, I think many in Steeler Nation are quite pleased right now. At the very least, they are happy to see second-year running back Jaylen Warren getting more, and more defined, opportunities and producing with them.
Through the first seven games of the season, Warren was held to under 10 rushing attempts, averaging closer to seven per game. He was producing more as a receiving option, but the past two games with a longer look at him as a pure runner have been rewarding.
One game after rushing for a career-high 88 yards on 11 carries, he bettered that, rushing for 101 yards on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers on 15 attempts. He also found the end zone again, his second touchdown of the season and third of his career.
As was the case against the Tennessee Titans, there was a stretch or two yesterday in which he took over the game. Unfortunately, he and the offense could not finish that run, which came in the middle of the fourth quarter.
After pounding out a series of successful runs, up by just one point, Warren was stuffed for no gain and checked out to the sideline for a breather. QB Kenny Pickett hit Harris in the flat for an eight-yard gain, but they could not convert on 3rd and 2 and settled for a field goal, which made the end of the game more interesting than it otherwise needed to be.
Earlier success—the Steelers scored a touchdown on their opening drive in each of the past two games—and better sustained drives have been essential in the run game’s success recently. Better results on first down have translated to longer drives.
The question is, can the Steelers continue that, and do so by continuing to feed their two-headed-monster of a backfield? Warren and Harris are nearly splitting carries at this point, and both are running well.
