Declining RB Najee Harris’ fifth-year option is one of the most interesting decisions the Pittsburgh Steelers made this offseason. While there’s been a significant move away from paying the position, running backs are the most affordable fifth-year option. The Steelers could have locked Harris in for 2025 for under $7 million; they decided that wasn’t worth it.
But what exactly does that say about what they think of Najee Harris? He’s rushed for 3,269 yards in the past three season with 28 total touchdowns. While he hasn’t been a bastion of efficiency, he’s been a reliable contributor.
Yet the Steelers have also found a reliable contributor in Jaylen Warren. The third-year back has increasingly eaten into Harris’ snaps, and many wonder how that will look in 2024. Do the Steelers try to run the wheels off Harris assuming this is their last year with him? Or do they turn more to Warren as their future? Does the workload distribution shift based on the implications of the fifth-year option decision?
“Absolutely not. I think it’ll be the same”, Mark Kaboly said on 93.7 The Fan yesterday. “They found something that worked last year, and it preserved both of them. They don’t really care about [anything] past this year, so if you’re able to get both of those guys healthy and playing at their best for an entire season, especially late in the season, that’s the goal. The goal isn’t about 2025 or anything beyond that”.
Najee Harris played 369 offensive snaps in 2024, or 53.13 percent. Jaylen Warren played 519 snaps, just 50 fewer, or 48.86 percent. The touch distribution did not reflect the snap distribution, however. Harris recorded 284 touches in contract to Warren’s 210. That’s about a 4-to-3 ratio, not close enough to equal to compare it to the snap count.
Of course, Warren played a lot of snaps in obvious passing situations, and a lot of them entailed blocking. While Harris is also capable in that area, the Steelers really like what Warren offers in pass protection. But he still caught more than twice the number of passes than Harris, which isn’t insignificant.
In terms of carries, though, Harris remained the bell-cow back, or the closest thing to it. Of the Steelers’ 487 rushing attempts, he got 255 of them, rushing for 1,035 yards. Warren only recorded 149 carries but picked up 784 yards.
Many fans want to see the Steelers throw more work Jaylen Warren’s way in relation to Najee Harris. In the long run, the team may have to choose one over the other. Perhaps that’s why they ultimately passed on Harris’ fifth-year option.
Doing so makes Harris an unrestricted free agent in 2025 as Warren qualifies as a restricted free agent. Retaining Warren on even a second-round tender will cost nearly $5 million at current projections. So is Warren worth $5 million more than Harris is worth $6.8 million? Maybe the Steelers decided the answer to that question is yes. And decided that they’d rather not take on both.
