It isn’t a secret to anybody that follows the Steelers—RB Jaylen Warren is good. So good that Pro Football Focus called him a “secret superstar” in a post on X.
Warren was an undrafted free agent out of Oklahoma State in 2022. It didn’t take long for him to start earning some opportunities on offense with the Pittsburgh Steelers and by the end of his rookie season, he showed that he could be the primary backup to RB Najee Harris. Fast forward to halfway through his second season and there was growing support for him to take over the starting job over the former first-round draft pick.
In 2023, he became the second-ever Steelers UDFA with a 1000-yard season. The first was RB Willie Parker in the 2000s, and funny enough the two are related by blood as distant cousins.
Warren gained 784 yards on the ground in 2023 and added another 370 receiving yards to surpass the 1000-yard mark. His per-touch averages were great with 5.3 yards per carry on the ground and 6.1 yards per reception through the air. He scored four touchdowns, and consistently provided a spark as a 1b to Harris’ 1a. Warren ended up logging 519 offensive snaps in the regular season to Harris’ 569.
According to Stathead, he averaged 2.9 yards before contact per rush and nearly matched that with an impressive 2.4 yards after contact per rush attempt, made possible by his 27 broken tackles. That figure was tied for the third-most in the NFL along along with former Steelers RB James Conner. They were only trailing Harris and Jacksonville Jaguars RB Travis Etienne in that metric.
He figures to continue being a large part of the Steelers’ offense. With new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith having a track record of implementing an outside zone running scheme, Warren’s speed is better suited to those types of plays than Harris. It also helps to have Team President Art Rooney II praising the “two-headed monster” at RB. Rooney stays in the background for the most part, but he tends to give a directive or two during his end-of-year press conferences and mentioning Warren in that way suggests he will play a large role moving forward.
Harris is entering the fourth and final year of his rookie deal unless the Steelers decide to pick up his fifth-year option this offseason. It seems likely they will, but in the event they don’t, Warren could become the full-time starter as soon as the 2025 season. Regardless, he has cemented himself as a major contributor for the offense.
If he is a “secret superstar,” as PFF suggests, it is the worst-kept secret in Pittsburgh, and the rest of the league will soon catch on.
