Player: RB Jaylen Warren
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: Jaylen Warren appears to be fully healthy now, or at least close to it, after battling injuries. Throughout most of the season, the Steelers have had to rely on Najee Harris pretty heavily. Warren, however, has been taking on a bigger load more recently, and to good effect. He has had his most productive games of the season in the past two weeks.
Were it not for a fumble at the goal line to blemish his play against the Commanders, Jaylen Warren might be getting more talk right now. Since the bye week, he has 106 rushing yards on 23 carries, plus 48 yards on six catches.
In fact, this is continuing a trend going back to the last couple games before the bye. Over the past four, Jaylen Warren has 197 rushing yards on 44 attempts. He is averaging close to 50 yards per game over that span, plus 21 receiving yards. After totaling over 1,000 yards from scrimmage last year, he is getting back to that pace.
In fact, averaging 70.25 yards from scrimmage over the past four games, Warren would be on pace for 1,194 yards. As it is, he is currently on pace for a little over 800, but with seven more games to better his totals, he can hit those needed marks.
At the moment, Warren actually has just 381 yards from scrimmage, of which 281 are from the last four games. But to reach 1,000 yards on the season, he would have to average 89 yards from scrimmage the rest of the way.
Without a couple of standout games mixed in, that will be hard to do. Warren has a few 100-yard games under his belt, and a few more that came close. With the Steelers’ commitment to running the ball this year, and the success that follows, it will be interesting to see how close he can come to hitting the necessary pace. And in the meantime, his efforts will help the Steelers win games.
As the season progresses, Steelers players’ stocks rise and fall. The nature of the evaluation differs with the time of year, with in-season considerations being more often short-term. Considerations in the offseason often have broader implications, particularly when players lose their jobs, or the team signs someone. This time of year is full of transactions, whether minor or major.
A bad game, a new contract, an injury, a promotion—any number of things affect a player’s value. Think of it as a stock on the market, based on speculation. You’ll feel better about a player after a good game, or worse after a bad one. Some stock updates are minor, while others are likely to be quite drastic, so bear in mind the degree. I’ll do my best to explain the nature of that in the reasoning section of each column.
