The Pittsburgh Steelers surprised a lot of people deciding not to pick up the fifth-year option of RB Najee Harris. According to his trainer, Josh Scott, you can probably include Harris himself in that group. Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that Scott believes the Steelers running back “was probably caught off guard” by the decision.
A first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Najee Harris is the only player with at least 1,000 rushing yards in each of the past three seasons. He made the Pro Bowl as an alternate during his rookie season and posted his highest efficiency numbers in 2023.
The Steelers had to decide whether to pick up his option earlier this month, which meant guaranteeing almost $7 million. Because they elected not to, Harris is now due to reach unrestricted free agency in March.
Even though his team decided not to commit to him, Harris’ trainer believes he’s taken it in stride. Despite the fact that Harris expected a different decision, he wanted to arrive at OTAs and show his teammates that he’s not sulking, Batko writes.
Batko quotes Scott saying that he doesn’t believe Harris is “feeling slighted or anything like that” about the Steelers’ decision. At the same time, Scott said “it’s all fueling his fire to have an even better season than last year and prove a lot of people wrong.” And that’s a group that includes a lot more than just the people who sign his paychecks.
Since entering the league three years ago, Harris has rushed for 3,269 yards on 834 attempts. He has 22 rushing touchdowns and 28 touchdown from scrimmage, with 866 receiving yards on 144 catches. Yet he’s increasingly relinquished touches to Jaylen Warren.
Going into his third season, Warren is also in a contract year as a former college free agent. He is due for restricted free agency in 2025, but the Steelers could extend him now. It’s likely that Warren’s success has some influence on how Pittsburgh views its future relationship with Najee Harris.
Last season, Warren rushed for 784 yards despite seeing just 149 carries. He also caught 61 passes for 370 yards, totaling over 1,000 yards from scrimmage. He’s a bit more boom-or-bust from carry to carry, however, and lacks elite ball security.
I’m sure the Steelers believe that their backfield functions best as a two-headed monster with both Harris and Warren. Some believe they still want to retain Harris beyond this season, which is certainly possible. But they may want to see how he functions within new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s system first.
Pittsburgh improved its offensive line on paper by investing first- and second-round picks at tackle and center. What happens if Harris rushes for 1,500 yards with 12 touchdowns on 300 attempts this year? Will they pay him, and at what price? Or will they decide it’s the system that produced the results, and look for their next plug-and-play option? That’s what many teams do, but the Steelers feel less likely than most to do so.
Then again, they seemed more likely than not to pick up Najee Harris’ option, as well. Even Harris evidently found that surprising, but not discouraging. It’s just more fuel to the fire.
