As the calendar moves closer and closer to May, the Pittsburgh Steelers have two rather major financial and contractual decisions on their hands.
By no later than May 2, the Steelers and GM Omar Khan will have to have a decision made for the fifth-year options on 2021 first-round picks in running back Najee Harris and quarterback Justin Fields, who was traded for this offseason.
Though that May 2 date draws closer, the Steelers and Khan aren’t focusing on it. Instead, during a pre-draft press conference Monday, Khan stated that the Steelers are focused on the 2024 NFL Draft Thursday through Saturday and will likely have “serious discussions” regarding fifth-year options for Harris and Fields next week after the conclusion of the draft.
“Yeah, we know we have till May. I’ve said this before, we have until May 2nd to make that decision,” Khan said regarding the fifth-year option deadline and decisions. “So, we’re focused on the draft this week and I’m sure we’ll have some serious conversations about that next week.”
The first big fifth-year option will center on Harris, who was the No. 24 overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft out of Alabama.
Harris’ fifth-year option is set at $6.79 million for 2025 and would be fully guaranteed as soon as it was picked up. Though it seems like a no-brainer to do considering the importance of Harris given the Steelers’ play style and overall philosophy offensively playing that bully-ball style, it’s not a foregone conclusion.
Khan and the Steelers have praised Harris for his durability and overall importance to the team, but nothing has been decided.
Though Khan was certainly non-committal regarding Harris and his fifth-year option back before the NFL Scouting Combine and didn’t exactly lean one way or another on Monday, the Steelers have invested heavily in a ground-and-pound style rushing attack. Signing veteran linemen like Isaac Seumalo and James Daniels as free agents in recent offseasons shows that. The Steelers also traded up in the first round to land Broderick Jones in the 2023 NFL Draft and brought in Arthur Smith as their new offensive coordinator in early February.
Chances are, Harris will have his fifth-year option picked up. But when it comes to Fields, whom the Steelers traded for on March 16, it’s very unlikely the Steelers pick up his fifth-year option.
Fields, who was the No. 11 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears, has a $25.664 million for 2025, which would also become fully guaranteed for the 2025 season if picked up.
While the Steelers did trade for him, that’s simply too large of a salary for a quarterback who has to have a decision made on next season without him even taking a snap for Pittsburgh. Though the Steelers like Fields quite a bit, it’s very unlikely that fifth year gets picked up, and instead the Steelers could try and work out a short-term extension with the Ohio State product.
We’ll see what happens in the days ahead for the Steelers from the fifth-year options standpoint, but it seems pretty clear what the decisions could — and probably should — be.
