Shortly after the season, team president Art Rooney II called the Pittsburgh Steelers’ backfield a “two-headed monster.” Of course, he was referring to Steelers running backs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren. The Steelers then spent most of the offseason building around those two, with multiple additions along the offensive line and a run-first offensive coordinator in Arthur Smith.
Head coach Mike Tomlin was asked what he likes about his running back group.
“Their demeanor,” Tomlin told Missi Matthews during his weekly Keys to the Game segment on the Steelers’ website. “Both guys have obviously grown up here, and I think they’re grown now, to be quite honest with you. The demeanor in which they face combat and competition is really impressive. They never run from the fight. They run to it.
“I think we got some real goons in that room along with [Cordarrelle Patterson].”
Though they only finished 13th in rushing yards in 2023, they were the second-best rushing team during the back half of last year’s season. There might be some growing pains with the new offense and the offensive line, but the expectation is for this group to be the engine that powers the offense’s success.
Tomlin said similar things about his running backs after the training camp’s annual Friday night lights practice. In the backs-on-backers drill, the running backs were tasked with going one-on-one against Patrick Queen and Elandon Roberts, and they largely won their reps. However, the drill is a lot harder for the running backs, who have to pick up the blitz in a wide-open environment without other traffic to limit the linebackers’ movement.
With Russell Wilson’s status for Week 1 up in the air, the running backs should be leaned on even more. Arthur Smith will have them lining up with two or three tight ends on the field at a time. There will even be some fullback plays to help pave the way for Harris and Warren. Most offenses are getting smaller and faster to ride the wave of the spread offenses around the league. For most teams, speed kills. But the Steelers seem to be opting for more of a “size kills” mentality.
Now, they have to prove they can succeed on the ground when everybody expects it. The Steelers’ running backs will face some loaded boxes as defenses sell out to stop the running game. Harris and Warren were among the best at breaking tackles and gaining yards after contact last year. They may need to show that again to be successful while the passing game figures itself out early in the season.
