The Pittsburgh Steelers made the somewhat shocking decision to decline RB Najee Harris’ fifth-year option in the final minutes before the deadline came to pass on Thursday afternoon. Reports from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac indicate that they want to evaluate how the running backs do in offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s system prior to committing to anything long term. They have also invested heavily in the offensive line, which allows for easier success to whichever running back they feature.
“The approach they’ve taken to the offensive line, recognizing that that’s what’s really key to their rushing success,” Mina Kimes said on NFL Live, reacting to the Harris news. “They’ve also identified…that Jaylen Warren is the best back on the roster. And I wanna say this, he’s not just more explosive than Harris. He’s one of the best backs in the NFL. I think he’s so complete, so good at forcing missed tackles. He’s good in pass protection, he can catch passes.
“Next year, I suspect they’ll hold onto Jaylen Warren and they’ll probably do what Mike [Tannenbaum] talked about in this year’s draft that a lot of teams did, is draft a back in the later rounds to add to that committee.”
There was a point towards the middle of the 2023 season where many were calling for Warren to take over as the primary back with Harris taking the lesser role, but the Steelers leaned into Harris as the season wore into December and January with pretty good results. Harris ended up edging out Warren in offensive snaps, but not by much. Harris had 569 snaps compared to Warren’s 519.
Warren was more efficient on a per snap basis. He carried the ball 149 times for 784 yards and 4 touchdowns for an average of 5.3 yards per carry. Harris carried the ball 255 times for 1,035 yards and 8 touchdowns for an average of 4.1 yards per carry – a career high average for Harris.
Harris led Warren in broken tackles, but both were near the top of the league and Harris got considerably more touches overall. There is also the matter of fit within Arthur Smith’s offense. Harris is more of a north-south runner, whereas Warren has a little more speed to stretch the field horizontally as Smith’s wide-zone scheme will do.
I can’t help but think of the situation with the Dallas Cowboys, where they moved on from Ezekiel Elliott because Tony Pollard was much more efficient in 2022. Once Elliott left the team, Pollard’s production stayed the same while his usage took a big step up.
The Steelers ultimately got caught in a difficult situation when it comes to Harris and their running game. They drafted Harris when the offensive line was at it’s worst, just at the beginning of the rebuild. Now, they will get one year with a fully revamped line before he hits the open market. Matt Canada’s offense didn’t know left from right, and Harris’ cheap rookie contract years were wasted on that experiment.
Warren has continued to ascend as a talent in the NFL, so the 2024 season will be telling on whether or not he can hold down the RB1 role in Pittsburgh beyond next season. If he can, his explosive skill set will be an exciting pairing with the Steelers’ revamped offensive line.
