After declining Najee Harris’ fifth-year option last May, the Pittsburgh Steelers may find themselves in the running back market this offseason.
Though there’s still seemingly a chance that Harris stays in Pittsburgh after recording his fourth-straight 1,000-yard season, chances are the Steelers move on and look for an upgrade at the position alongside Jaylen Warren.
For Pro Football Focus’s Mason Cameron, the Steelers could look within the AFC North for that perceived upgrade. In a piece highlighting potential landing spots for running backs and tight ends, Cameron highlighted the Steelers as a potential landing spot for veteran running back and former Cleveland Browns standout Nick Chubb.
“The fact that Nick Chubb was able to return to the field at all in 2024 after his devastating knee injury in 2023 is a modern marvel. While he was a shadow of himself, another full offseason to return to form could help the veteran back rebound in 2025 in a new uniform,” Cameron writes. “The Steelers have many free-agent decisions — and not a ton of cap space to facilitate significant additions — one of which is tendering restricted free agent Jaylen Warren. Even with Pittsburgh likely to do what they can to retain Warren, adding a cost-effective veteran to the mix would be a prudent move, as Warren didn’t completely wrestle away the workload from Najee Harris this past season.
“Having been on the business end of massive performances from the former Brown, Mike Tomlin could be intrigued by Chubb’s remaining upside.”
Throughout his Browns tenure, Chubb has been respectfully referred to as “Mr. Chubb” by Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. Chubb has been a thorn in the Steelers’ side, rushing for 824 yards and four touchdowns on 182 carries in 12 games against the Steelers.
When he’s at this best, he’s a great running back, one with good power and vision who consistently falls forward. The problem is, Chubb is still coming back from a devastating knee injury suffered in Week 2 of the 2023 season against the Steelers at Acrisure Stadium.
In eight games last season after making his return, Chubb rushed for 332 yards and three touchdowns on 102 carries, mustering just 3.3 yards per carry on a bad Cleveland offense.
Though he wants to finish his career with the Browns, Chubb stated that he hasn’t had any contract talks with the team, which could lead to him hitting the open market. Maybe he ends up making the trip down the turnpike to Pittsburgh for the latter part of his career.
But if Chubb was to come to Pittsburgh to replace Harris, that wouldn’t exactly be an upgrade, as Chubb appears slower and less explosive than Harris right now. Granted, that was in his return from a knee injury, and he would have a full offseason to get healthy and back up to speed. But that wouldn’t be the exciting change in the backfield many believe the Steelers need.
Speaking of Harris, Cameron listed the Chargers as a potential landing spot for the bruising running back, which would be quite the pairing in Los Angeles under Jim Harbaugh and his ground-and-pound style with offensive coordinator Greg Roman.
