The Pittsburgh Steelers decided on Thursday not to pick up the fifth-year option on RB Najee Harris for the 2025 season and quite honestly, I was a bit surprised by that decision. My reaction to the Harris decision aside, now is a wonderful time to look forward to the situation the team has right now and possibly in the future with their former first round draft pick out of Alabama.
For starters, and according to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Steelers are now wanting to wait and see how Harris and the rest of the running backs perform in the offense of new OC Arthur Smith. The common media thought also seems to be that the team might ultimately still try to strike a new deal with Harris before he officially becomes an unrestricted free agent at the start of the 2025 NFL league year next March. That’s fine and dandy, but just how realistic of an outcome is that?
Remember, had the Steelers exercised the fifth-year option on Harris’ rookie contract by the Thursday deadline, they would have then been obligated to pay him $6.79 million in 2025. Quite honestly, that’s not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things. Even so, the team declining Harris’ fifth-year option is a sign that he’s not even worth that amount to them in 2025 as things stand right now.
While there’s always a chance Harris and the Steelers could ultimately strike a new long-term contract prior to the start of the 2025 NFL league year next March, such an outcome seems like it might be just as surprising as the team declining the running back’s fifth year-option this offseason. After all, Harris would need a new money average of $7 million or greater as part of a new deal to even break into the top-ten list of the NFL’s highest paid running backs right now. Currently, Aaron Jones of the Minnesota Vikings and James Conner of the Arizona Cardinals are tied for tenth on that list with both having new money averages of $7 million.
As for Harris, it’s hard to imagine him not wanting to be one of the NFL’s top-10 highest paid running backs well ahead of the 2024 season getting underway. After all, he’s the only running back to rush for 1,000 yards or more in the last three seasons and he’s sixth overall in the NFL total yards from scrimmage in the last three seasons when it comes to all running backs. He’s also yet to miss a game since being drafted to boot. Remember him talking about running backs being extremely undervalued last offseason? Remember that running back group chat he was reportedly a member of?
Even if the Steelers offered Harris a new deal between now and Week One of the 2024 NFL regular season, it’s hard to imagine it meeting the running back’s demands. Additionally, I can almost assure you that the Steelers would only fully guarantee the first year of any new deal they were to offer to Harris.
Assuming Harris goes into the 2024 regular season without a new deal in place, and assuming he remains as healthy and at least as productive as he was in his first three NFL seasons, the Steelers would likely need to place the franchise tag on him next offseason to prevent him from reaching unrestricted free agency. In case you’re curious, the 2025 projected franchise tag amount for running backs in 2025 is $13.354 million, according to Over the Cap. In short, I’m sure there aren’t many of you reading this post that think the Steelers would use such a tag with that amount on Harris next offseason as we sit here in early May of 2024.
While I have certainly not been a huge defender of running backs over the last several years, as I firmly believe the position is a fungible one overall in today’s NFL, I do find myself feeling a little bit sorry for Harris now that his fifth-year option for 2025 has been declined. I imagine he’s not feeling too sporty about the Steelers’ decision as well. In fact, I bet he’s pretty pissed right now. I know I’d be if I were him.
With the Steelers’ final decision now made when it comes to Harris’ fifth-year option, I do also wonder what this might mean once the running back gets to training camp later this summer. Might he stage some sort of training camp hold-in because of his dissatisfaction with the team’s fifth-year option decision with him? Might one of his hamstrings feel a little tight for most of the training camp practices and ahead of preseason games? I don’t know for sure, but just the same, I do wonder what his summer plan of attack might be with him now officially going into a contract year. After all, he really needs to stay healthy and productive in 2024 to ensure he gets paid good money from some team next offseason.
I also wonder what Harris’ next several sessions with the media might be like. I would assume his next one might be during OTAs, assuming he’s even present for any of those. That might be something immediate to look for right there with him, if we’re being honest. Harris doesn’t seem to have the best relationship with the local media at this point of his brief NFL career as it is, so I would imagine he won’t be all that chatty in any forthcoming scrums over the summer. We’ll see.
In closing, I think it will be quite interesting to see what all transpires with Harris moving forward past the team’s Thursday fifth-year option decision. He already likely feels underpaid as it is, and now he currently has no guarantees in place for himself past the 2024 season. While one long-term deal between now and Week One could certainly change that, I will be surprised if that ultimately happens. Personally, I now have a feeling we could be set to watch Harris’ last season in Pittsburgh as a member of the Steelers. I would imagine most of you reading this post also feel the same way.
