Najee Harris’ role with the Pittsburgh Steelers won’t change heading into his fourth season, but how he looks doing it will. Steelers radio analyst Craig Wolfley confirmed on the Big Blue Kickoff podcast that Harris has “slimmed down” this spring, ostensibly in an effort to play with more burst and rack up more explosive runs.
“Najee Harris has slimmed down,” Wolfley told Paul Dottino, host of the New York Giants centric show. “Dropped some weight. Now think about this, when [Le’Veon Bell], before he was drafted, Mike Tomlin said to him, ‘You need to drop some weight, about 20 pounds.’ Lev Bell did. Lev Bell, no matter how it ended up, this guy was a terrific running back. Now, we see Najee Harris has decided, he came in the spring and he has dropped some weight.”
Bell tipped the scales at 230 pounds at the NFL Combine but played even heavier during his Michigan State career. After staying big as a rookie, Bell shed the weight into the 215-220 range and transformed his body as a sophomore in the NFL, becoming an All-Pro back.
Harris has stayed big throughout his NFL career. Coming out of Alabama, he weighed in at 232 pounds, but like Bell, played closer to 240. He’s stayed around that number since 2021 and even pushed back on those who thought he should get slimmer.
“He’s always messing around like, ‘Oh, I bet I weigh more than you today,” Harris said in 2022 of Mike Tomlin’s ribbing over his weight. “He doesn’t care as long as I can move with it, then it’s good. But it becomes an issue when I can’t move around with it and I look sluggish. But I feel good out there, man. So that’s all that matters.”
But he’s evidently had a change of heart. Based on OTA footage, it looked like he had gotten lighter.
In May, trainer Josh Scott noted Harris was down roughly 7 pounds, down to a 235 weight. It’s not clear if that’s his target number or if he’ll continue to trim down ahead of Week 1.
The knock on Harris coming out of college was a potentially slow 40 time and lack of big runs, and that’s generally held true since being drafted. From 2021-2023, here’s Harris’ ranks of 10, 20, and 30-plus yard runs. Keep in mind over that span, Harris ranks second league-wide in carries.
Najee Harris Explosive Runs (2021-2023)
10-Plus Yards: 72 (Tied-8th)
20-Plus Yards: 15 (14th)
30-Plus Yards: 3 (36th)
Harris showed improvement last season in runs of 20-plus yards, but his longest rush of the season was still only 25. Those aren’t factors entirely in his control, the quality of the offensive line and downfield blocking play key roles, so he’s not solely to blame. But Jaylen Warren has posted similar numbers of 20-plus yard runs despite registering a quarter of the carries.
In what’s become a contract year, Harris needs to have his best season. Not just in volume but in efficiency of his run success rate and yards per carry. Explosive runs will aid with both, especially the latter, to maximize his value next March should he play out the final year of his rookie deal. That’ll make him the most amount of money whether it’s Pittsburgh or someone else opening their wallet.
