Pittsburgh Steelers RB Najee Harris had one of the best games of his career last week, rushing for over 100 yards. It was just the seventh time in his career that he had done so, and the first since last season. He also did it in just 14 carries, eight fewer than any other 100-yard rushing game of his career. And he could potentially benefit significantly from the Steelers turning to Russell Wilson at quarterback, Mark Kaboly believes.
“It should help [Harris], maybe more than anybody, if Russell Wilson gets the start”, he said on 93.7 The Fan Wednesday. “Because now you’re gonna have to loosen up the box. They’ve been throwing eight-man boxes at him for the majority of the season. I don’t care who you are, it’s gonna be tough sledding. Especially with the offensive line now has their, what, seventh different combo in there? So I think that should show through a little bit more with him, a little bit of play-action”.
According to ESPN’s Next Gen Stats, Najee Harris has faced eight-man boxes 19.79 percent of the time this season. Compared to other running backs around the league, however, that’s only in the middle of the pack. There have been times where defenses approached him that way. In Week 5, for example, he faced eight or more defenders 42.86 percent of the time. This past week, however, the Raiders only stacked the box 14.29 percent of the time.
In other words, this narrative that defenses have sold out to stop Najee Harris because they don’t respect Justin Fields and the passing game isn’t really true. Occasionally, defenses have taken that approach, but that will be true for any team on a week-to-week basis.
But getting Russell Wilson in could potentially be an asset to the play-action passing game. While the Steelers are using it extensively, Justin Fields is not having great success. Historically, Wilson has done well, even excelled, using play-action. And while play-action passing doesn’t necessarily set up the run game, it certainly doesn’t hurt it. In general, a more balanced offense should help everybody, including Harris.
While Kaboly believes Najee Harris could be the biggest beneficiary of Russell Wilson starting for the Steelers, Ray Fittipaldo argued that it should be WR George Pickens. More likely, I think, either almost everybody will benefit from it or nobody will.
I will pose my own example: Van Jefferson will be the biggest beneficiary of Russell Wilson starting because Wilson spreads the ball around a lot more reliably than Fields. Harris has largely been the focal point of the offense in many ways, but the passing game should take on a bigger role. And that means the No. 2 WR will actually have a part to play in the passing game.
Maybe we could even extend this further and claim that Roman Wilson will be the biggest beneficiary. The rookie third-round pick finally dressed last week, but he played all of five snaps, running just one route. Instead of Najee Harris, who already has 110 touches this year, how about somebody with zero touches?
In other words, as long as you can keep writing or talking, you can create an argument for anybody.
