The Pittsburgh Steelers have until May 2 to exercise RB Najee Harris’ fifth-year option for $6.79 million, and head coach Mike Tomlin said the team has yet to make a decision on whether or not to exercise it yet. Mike DeFabo of The Athletic tweeted that Tomlin said this morning at the AFC Coaches Breakfast at the NFL Owners Meetings that the Steelers have not made an internal decision, although DeFabo added that Tomlin called Harris “a model of consistency.”
“It has not,” Tomlin said about a decision being made on Harris’ option. “But obviously, Najee has been a model of consistency since he’s been with us. I think I saw a statistic about his three 1,000-yard seasons being in rare company, and I think that just illustrates how he’s been for us,” Tomlin said via Steelers.com.
The Steelers also have RB Jaylen Warren, who excelled with over 1,000 all-purpose yards in 2023. Harris has run for over 1,000 yards in each season of his career though, and he finally broke the 4.0 yards per carry threshold in 2023, running for 4.1 yards per carry and 1,035 yards with eight touchdowns.
Given some of the contracts that running backs have signed in this free agency cycle, it seems like a reasonable amount of money for Pittsburgh to pick up and give to Harris. But Warren’s presence and the limited life span of NFL running backs means paying them a lot of money is usually not a good path to go down, and while the fifth-year option would just be for 2025, Harris may want a long-term deal as well.
He’s been outspoken about the state of the running back market and given his production and the way him and Warren work off each other, it’s understandable that Harris may feel that he deserves a longer-term extension. I think the Steelers will pick up the option, but I’m just not sure they will want to work anything out beyond 2025 with Harris.
He does deserve to have his option exercised, as not only is he a veteran and now one of the longest-tenured Steelers on offense, but he’s someone who really stepped up late in the season last year and helped the Steelers close the season on a three-game winning streak. Mason Rudolph was awesome as well, but it was the ground game that really got going and helped open things up through the air, and Harris was a huge asset for the Steelers late in the season.
Both Harris and Warren really turned things on after Broderick Jones was inserted in the starting lineup at right tackle in Week 9, and as the team continues to look to improve and upgrade the offensive line, the run game only stands to improve. We’ll see by May 2 if the Steelers feel that Harris is worth almost $7 million next season, and the team will also have to make a decision on Justin Fields and his $25.6 million option, one it will likely decline. But I’d think Harris’ option will end up getting exercised, even if no decision has been made yet.
