Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jaylen Warren played a key role in the team’s 20-16 win over the Tennessee Titans Thursday night. With a strong 11-carry, 88-yard performance, the running game looked as healthy as it has all season, allowing the offense to stay on schedule and move the ball.
In turn, the folks over at Pro Football Focus are showing him some love, grading him out as the NFL’s second-best running back of the week. His 91.1 overall offensive grade was second only to Baltimore’s Keaton Mitchell. And as a runner, Warren’s 88.1 grade was third-best leaguewide, only trailing Mitchell and fellow Ravens back Gus Edwards.
For Warren, his 88 yards were a career-high. He averaged a blistering eight yards per carry, the highest mark by a Steelers’ runner with at least 10 carries since Le’Veon Bell in a 2016 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Warren’s numbers aren’t skewed by one dramatic play, no 70-yarder outlier here. He just consistently ran hard and ran successfully. His biggest play of the game was a 22-yard scamper along right side, spinning away and making something out of nothing before being knocked out of bounds at the 1-yard line.
That set up QB Kenny Pickett’s game-winning touchdown to Diontae Johnson, though the Steelers’ offense went backwards after Warren set them up on Pittsburgh’s doorstep.
For the year, Warren has carried the ball 56 times for 263 yards and a rushing score. He’s surpassed RB Najee Harris in a couple of key metrics with a higher yards per carry (4.7 versus 3.8), run-success rate (48.2 percent versus 44 percent), and nearly equals him in yards after contact per attempt (Harris at 2.0, Warren at 1.9). Harris also had success in the game and ran hard, punching the ball in on the team’s opening possession but Warren flashed a little more.
He showed his squatty power by bowling over this Titans’ DB in the hole (which hopefully the league doesn’t fine him for, as it has been apt to do). Ike Taylor likened Warren to Steelers ILB Mark Robinson, a former RB with the same prickly and physical on-field attitude.
As for Harris, PFF graded him as the 27th back of 39 qualifiers with an overall grade of 58.5. His run grade was slightly better and put him in 22nd place.
On the year, the site has Warren as its 29th best running back with Harris far behind in 49th place. But regardless of outsider rankings, the Steelers are happy with having two talented players in the backfield who can rotate and keep each other fresh. Pittsburgh will need its run game to continue having success the rest of the season.
Other notable PFF grades of the week include James Daniels rated as the fourth-best guard, Diontae Johnson as the eighth-best wide receiver, and QB Kenny Pickett the seventh-best passer.
