The Pittsburgh Steelers turned a lot of heads last Thursday when they declined to pick up RB Najee Harris’ fifth-year option. A large number of fans and even local media figured that the Steelers were certainly going to pick up the option. However, a deeper look into the statistics highlights that Harris doesn’t statistically measure up to the other running backs whose fifth-year options were picked up.
Whether or not the Steelers should have picked up the option is strictly a rhetorical question now. The real question is what does the future hold for Harris with the Steelers?
“I know the Steelers kind of put out there that we want to see how he fits in Arthur Smith’s offense,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo said on Monday’s episode of the North Shore Drive Podcast. “We’re not closing the door on Najee being part of this team in the long term. But I don’t know about you, but when you decline the fifth-year option, I think it’s 90 to 95 percent sure that this is going to be Najee Harris’ last year with the Steelers.”
The Steelers made a business decision regardless of how they portrayed it to the public. They felt like investing nearly $7 million into Harris in 2025 was not the right choice. Could they be unsure of how well Harris will perform under offensive coordinator Arthur Smith? Absolutely. We can look at how running backs have fared under Smith and do some projections.
For instance, former Tennessee Titans RB Derrick Henry had his best years under Smith, averaging at least 5 yards a carry in 2019 and 2020. Could Harris perform at a level previously unseen in Pittsburgh? The possibility is there. And if he does, then maybe the Steelers offer him a contract that costs them more than the fifth-year option would have.
However, the fact that the Steelers decided not to exercise the mostly budget-friendly option is essentially a vote of no confidence for Harris. Not that he isn’t a capable and reliable running back, but a vote of no confidence in Harris ever being more than that. So if that’s genuinely how the Steelers feel and Harris doesn’t disprove that in 2024, then there really isn’t much reason for the Steelers to keep him around for longer than that.
There’s also the potential that Harris won’t want to be back in Pittsburgh. He’s been very outspoken about his feelings on how teams handle paying the running back position. He could very well feel slighted by the Steelers not picking up his option and play his best football yet before parlaying that into a contract with another team.
Either way, it will be very interesting to see how Harris responds in 2024.
You can watch the entire episode of the North Shore Drive Podcast below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts4Z2JDs2ek
