Pittsburgh Steelers RB Najee Harris did not receive the offseason news he probably wanted. The Steelers declined to pick up his fifth-year option, which put his future into flux.
And early in the season, Harris and the Steelers’ running game struggled. He only managed over four yards a carry once, a 4.1 average against the Denver Broncos in Week 2. And he never eclipsed 100 yards rushing in a single game through the first five weeks.
But over the last three games, Harris has come alive.
“Najee’s been killing it, you know it,” Steelers DL Cam Heyward said on Thursday’s episode of his Not Just Football podcast. “Three back-to-back games like that, he’s eating well. We just gotta keep feeding the beast.”
After only generating three yards per carry in Week 5 against the Dallas Cowboys, Harris exploded against the Las Vegas Raiders. Ironically, he had the same number of carries in both games (14). But against the Raiders, Harris rushed for 100 yards for the first time in 2024 with 106. He had a whopping 7.6 yards per carry in that game, a career-high. He had never eclipsed seven yards a carry in his NFL career before that game. He also found the end zone for the first time all season.
Against the New York Jets the very next week, Harris kept both his 100-plus yards and touchdown streak going. He had 21 carries for 102 yards and a touchdown in the win. Then last Monday night, he had 19 carries for 114 yards against the New York Giants.
It’s only the third time in Harris’s career that he’s had three games in a row with least four yards per carry. He accomplished the feat in the final three games of the 2023 season and between Weeks 8-10 of the 2022 season. And Harris has never had three-straight games with at least 100 yards rushing until now.
Najee Harris has certainly been killing it running the ball as Heyward said. And if he keeps it up (and the Steelers feed “the beast”), the offense will continue to be as balanced as it’s been in a long time with QB Russell Wilson under center. That’s quite a good thing for the Steelers.
