The Pittsburgh Steelers’ decision to decline RB Najee Harris’ fifth-year option has sparked a lot of conversations about Jaylen Warren and the position in general. Harris, a former first-round pick, has lagged in efficiency stats that Warren, a former college free agent, has managed better in. Warren, for example, had better than a yard per carry more, even in Harris’ best efficiency season.
With his option declined, Harris is now due to become an unrestricted free agent in March. We don’t know the plausibility of him remaining in Pittsburgh beyond that point, and neither do they. But that leaves open the possibility of Warren as the lead back a year from now—and the need for another runner.
While they’re not about to draft another running back in the first round, there’s also a point at which you need to value the position. That’s a talking point Mark Kaboly of The Athletic hit on recently on 93.7 The Fan. In so many words, many seem to exaggerate the ease of acquiring quality running backs.
“You can find them anywhere, of course. But it’s not as simple as [that]. There’s Willie Parkers out there, there’s Jaylen Warrens out there, but it takes a lot of diving through the muck to be able to find those guys”, he said.
“You’ve got a lot of Fitz Toussaints and Jordan Todmans to weave out, and the Benny Snells, before you get to those guys. It’s not like you can just pick them left and right haphazardly. They’re out there, but it’s not an easy thing to do”.
Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller brought up second-year Los Angeles Rams RB Kyren Williams. A former fifth-round pick, he rushed for 1,144 yards with 12 touchdowns last year, plus three receiving touchdowns. He made the Pro Bowl and was a second-team All-Pro. But the Rams went through a lot of options between him and Todd Gurley, Kaboly pointed out.
Gurley, a 2015 first-round pick, had a strong five-year run with the Rams before injuries derailed his career. Since then, they’ve drafted John Kelly (2018 Round 6), Darrell Henderson (2019 Round 3), Cam Akers (2020 Round 2), and Jake Funk (2021 Round 7). You may not even have heard of Kelly and Funk, though the others are familiar. Akers showed a lot of promise, but never even had a 1,000-yard season, another player with injuries. Henderson isn’t even on a team right now.
The Steelers have one of the best running back pairs in the league in Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren. They got each of them on opposite ends of the spectrum, so to speak, but each have their value. Yet you find more Najee Harrises in the first round than you find Jaylen Warrens in college free agency.
You can look at the leading rushers and cite Kyren Williams and Raheem Mostert, but they’re still the outliers. Most of the leading backs are still early draft picks, typically second or third round.
For every Isiah Pachecho, there are literally several dozens of John Clays and Master Teagues and Xazavian Valladays and Mataeo Durants. The Steelers haven’t even hit in the fourth round with Snell and Anthony McFarland Jr., for example. Theoretically, a better offense and better offensive line, which they hope they now have, bridges most of that gap. But it’s still not easy to find good running backs you can count on for years. Frankly, we lie to ourselves a bit about how easy it is to find good running backs.
