The decision on May 2 to not pick up the fifth-year option of fourth-year running back Najee Harris was a bit of a surprising one by the Pittsburgh Steelers. For head coach Mike Tomlin, who spoke to reporters Tuesday following the first day of Organized Team Activities, it was a decision that has “layers” to it.
“It can reflect a lot of things, but there’s probably some depth to those waters,” Tomlin said to reporters regarding the decision, according to video via 93.7 The Fan on Twitter. “Sometimes it’s positional related, some things of that nature. There’s a business component of this, and of all decisions that we make. So, there’s layers to it. I’m not going to try to characterize it in simplicity.
“That would probably be inappropriate.”
#Steelers Mike Tomlin on not picking up Najee Harris’ option pic.twitter.com/KidJ1veoNM
— 93.7 The Fan (@937theFan) May 21, 2024
On the surface, it seemed like a bit of a foregone conclusion that the Steelers would pick up Harris’s fifth-year option, valued at $6.79 million. That would have been fully guaranteed for the 2025 season as soon as the Steelers would have picked it up.
However, Steelers GM Omar Khan decided against it, putting Harris in a contract year with the Steelers. It was a rather surprising decision, simply because it seemed like an easy one on the outside to pick it up. But the Steelers very clearly thought otherwise.
For Tomlin, there’s quite a bit of depth to the decision, citing a position-related focus with the value of the running back losing some of its steam in the last decade or so. That’s an area where Harris has taken a public stand recently, making the case that running backs shouldn’t be devalued because of the position they play.
Though the Steelers declined Harris’s fifth-year option that doesn’t mean that the Steelers are done with him. In fact, immediately after news broke that Harris was having his fifth-year option declined, there were reports that Harris and the Steelers were still interested in getting an deal done, whether that was this summer or immediately after the 2024 season.
Since joining the Steelers as a first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Harris has been a workhorse.
Last season after cracking the 1,000-yard mark in the regular-season finale against the Baltimore Ravens, Harris made franchise history, becoming the first Steelers running back woth 1,000 yards in three straight seasons to open his career.
He’s been incredibly durable, too, not missing a game in his career to date.
Last season, Harris took over down the stretch, too, playing some of his best football as the Steelers fired on all cylinders offensively, winning three straight games to finish 10-7 and get into the playoffs. From Week 9 to the end of the season, Harris averaged 4.2 yards per carry, recorded four games with 80 or more rushing yards, and closed the regular season with two straight 100-yard games. That stretch included a season-best 122 yards and two touchdowns on the road against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 17.
Despite that strong close to the season, the Steelers declined his fifth-year option. It’s a deeper conversation than just declining his option outright, and it’s not something that Tomlin wanted to get into today. Hopefully at some point that deeper conversation regarding the decision to decline Harris’s option is told to help everyone better understand the thought process behind it.
