According to Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Najee Harris was walking through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ locker room on Monday with a sling on his right arm and speaking with a trainer.
“In what could be little more than a precautionary measure, Steelers No. 1 running back Najee Harris was walking through the locker room with his right arm in a sling Monday and speaking with a trainer,” Batko wrote.
That obviously isn’t a ton of information to go from, but we know something is bothering him. Harris played a very physical game on Sunday against one of the top defenses in the league in the Los Angeles Chargers. He was running full speed into piles to fight for an extra yard or two. That has always been his style, but that can obviously take a toll on the body.
Harris has been extremely durable over his first three NFL seasons. He has appeared on practice reports before, but he has never missed a game. If he misses the Week 4 game against the Indianapolis Colts it will be the first game he has sat out in his NFL career.
Through three games, Harris has 209 rushing yards on 55 carries. He is 70 yards ahead of his 2023 pace through three games.
Head coach Mike Tomlin did not mention Harris after the game on Sunday in his injury recap, but he rarely has the full picture that soon after the action. On a related note, he did mention Jaylen Warren. Warren was dealing with a hamstring injury during the preseason. He played on Sunday, but the Steelers pulled him from the game because Tomlin said it didn’t look like he was running fluidly.
That could become an issue if Warren and Harris are unable to play in Week 4 when they visit the Indianapolis Colts. That would leave Cordarrelle Patterson as the top running back. Aaron Shampklin and Jonathan Ward are on the practice squad, so it seems like one of them could be elevated on Saturday to play against the Colts if either Harris or Warren continue to have issues throughout the week.
Tomlin may tell us more during the Tuesday press conference, but more likely we will have to monitor his practice participation throughout the week to see if Harris will be available.
