Pittsburgh Steelers RB Najee Harris has a case as the best running back set to hit free agency in March, and that could wind up leading to a nice payday for the former first-round pick. Because of the market, NFL.com’s Kevin Patra argued that Harris could be overpriced since he hasn’t been very efficient.
“The pluses: Harris is a durable, consistent bulldozer who can eat up snaps, run through defenders and move a pile. The minuses: He lacks any semblance of second-level burst, has averaged 3.9 yards per carry over his career and offers little explosiveness. In 1,097 career carries, Harris has never logged a run longer than 37 yards,” Patra wrote. “There is value in his game as a reliable player who has never missed a contest and can take a beating. If this were an ‘Angry Runs’ competition, sure, he’d be near the top of the list. But his free agency foray shouldn’t be close to what we saw last offseason with Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs, who inked deals providing $12 million-plus per year.”
Patra wrote that current projections of Harris landing a contract between $9-11 million might be too much, but the lack of depth in the class could lead to him earning a nice payday.
Harris hasn’t been unproductive, as he’s the only running back in the league with over 1,000 yards in each of the last four seasons. He also hasn’t had a ton of offensive line success in Pittsburgh, which has contributed to his lack of efficiency, but the fact that he’s never averaged more than 4.1 yards per carry is certainly worth noting. There’s an argument to be made that Harris would be better in another scheme, and if a team believes that, then it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him get paid.
The idea that Harris could return to Pittsburgh also isn’t all that far-fetched, given there seems to be support for him from Mike Tomlin. But after the Steelers declined his fifth-year option, turning around and paying him more than they would’ve last year would be bad business, especially with a deep running back draft class. But Harris will find suitors, whether it’s the Steelers or somewhere else, and Mike Florio said yesterday that Harris could get paid by a “dysfunctional” organization as a name-brand signing.
Given some of the chatter in recent weeks, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Harris returned to the Steelers, but it’s also not all that likely. He could probably fetch more money elsewhere on the open market, and it might just be time for a fresh start for both sides. Harris will benefit from last year’s free agent running backs finding immediate success with their new teams, and while he doesn’t have the same talent as someone like Saquon Barkley or Derrick Henry, teams could look and see what a player like Tony Pollard did with his new team and bet on a similar turnaround from Harris.
That could lead to him getting paid a little more than his production probably warrants, but it would be beneficial for Najee Harris.
