Will the Steelers sign Najee Harris to an extension before the regular season begins?
With the Pittsburgh Steelers signing Cameron Heyward to a three-year contract, many are wondering what deals come next. Most assume that Pat Freiermuth is a virtual guarantee, but what about Najee Harris? We have been hearing mixed messages on that one—sometimes even from the same reporter—so it’s hard to gauge.
We know the Steelers want to run the football—and we know Najee Harris runs the football. But we also know they have two running backs they want to share the load. Jaylen Warren will be a restricted free agent next year, but he won’t be cheap, relatively speaking.
If the Steelers gave Warren a second-round tender and extended Harris, we could be talking about a $10 million running back room overnight. Now, split between two backs who complement each other well, that’s really not an issue. But many question if Harris is worth a significant extension.
What people want, of course, doesn’t matter—it’s what the Steelers want. Reporters like Gerry Dulac continue to claim that the Steelers have no plans to extend Najee Harris before the season. Others have been more receptive to that possibility, so, as usual, we can find corroborating evidence for anything we want to believe, which leaves us exactly nowhere useful.
Dulac was the first to report this long ago, claiming the Steelers want to see what Harris looks like in the new offense first. Presumably, they want to see him in the regular season, not just in the preseason, so that means the evaluation process continues.
The Steelers are still working to get their offensive line together, a process complicated by injuries. Isaac Seumalo is currently unavailable, though perhaps not for long. Troy Fautanu is working his way back from a knee injury, but also working his way into the lineup. And we still don’t know what that will ultimately look like in terms of the left tackle position. So does that mean Najee Harris will simply have to wait? They can still sign him after the season, before he hits free agency, but it may be too late for now.
The Steelers’ 2024 season is approaching, following another disappointing year that culminated in a first-round playoff loss. The only change-up in the annual formula lately is whether they exit early or miss the playoffs altogether. They have had a long offseason since the Buffalo Bills stamped them out of their misery back in January.
The biggest question hanging over the team is the quarterback question. Does Russell Wilson make them a Super Bowl-caliber team, or are they wasting a year? How will the team continue to address the depth chart?
The regular season is here, following weeks of camp and preseason games. The Steelers made numerous moves through signings and trade—and release. More than usual, they seemed comfortable creating holes, confident they can fill them. Some they managed to fill, others not so much. Now that we have so many pieces of the puzzle, however, we merely have a new set of questions to ask.
