Best career season could be ahead for Steelers’ Najee Harris
The National Football League has long gone through trends; how teams utilize their offensive backs, tight ends, and receivers has shifted throughout the league’s history. The 2022 NFL season saw several successful teams buck the pass heavy offense trend of recent years, opting to return to a more run-centric offensive scheme.
The Pittsburgh Steelers, as an organization, have expressed a renewed emphasis on building the run game; President Art Rooney, II has publicly stated such.
While running backs Kareem Hunt, Ezekiel Elliott, Dalvin Cook, Saquon Barkley, and Josh Jacobs – big NFL names – await their futures, the Steelers have Najee Harris in the perfect spot for potentially his best career season in 2023.
There’s more than water-cooler talk among NFL insiders that the running back position has questions surrounding it league wide. The debate, though, is not one-sided by any means.
Per a recent article by Sports Illustrated’s ‘Fan Nation’, “In Pittsburgh, the player in question is Harris, who, at 25 years old, is coming off a bit of a dip in year two.”
Their analysis was based on an algorithm by Larry Holder of The Athletic who analyzed the “EPA (expected points added) per rush and reception” of big-name running backs in 2022. Per Holder, Harris’ 2022 stats were highly unimpressive.
Steelers fans clearly saw a Pittsburgh team in transition during the same season. The offense was inconsistent and lackluster across the board early in the 2022 NFL regular season.
The Steelers got a boost in the second half of that period after Kenny Pickett became the starting quarterback, the offensive line finally gelled, and both Harris and Jaylen Warren were given more options than bubble screens and runs through either the A- or B- gap in Matt Canada’s offensive gameplans.
If fans and insiders were to look at the November 2022 game between the Steelers, on the road, against the New Orleans Saints, they’d see that it showed why Harris is still a highly valuable piece, especially for the 2023 Pittsburgh team.
Harris rushed for 99 yards as he, and three other ball carriers, slammed the ball down the Saints’ throats for 217 yards and two touchdowns on just 40 carries in the 20-10 victory. It was the first 200+ rushing yards game the Steelers had put together since former rusher Le’Veon Bell set the single-game franchise record.
The @steelers had four players (Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren, George Pickens and Kenny Pickett) register 20+ yard runs.
The last time an @NFL team had four players register 20+ yard runs in a game:
Dec. 24, 2011 – Carolina Panthers#NOvsPIT#HereWeGo#BertschyBits
— Michael Bertsch (@SteelersPRMike) November 14, 2022
Did Harris’ rushing stats decrease from his rookie season? Yes. There’s no argument there. It’s in black and white in the record books.
After the game, Harris said:
“We’re taking a different approach here, and how to do things around the building… Just rebuilding the culture in a way. We’ve got to change a lot of things. We’re still building, but we’re going toward the right direction.”
Pittsburgh knows what it has in Warren who will enter his second season in the NFL. As an undrafted rookie last season, he was a bit of a wildcard the proved to be an ace in the hole.
The Steelers also now have a clear “QB1” heading into a new season in Pickett. Training camp should demonstrate how much the young quarterback has grown since he took over from Mitchell Trubisky last year as a fresh rookie.
During the off-season and NFL draft, the Steelers also heavily invested in upgrading their offensive line. How the pieces they’ve added to their offensive front will shake out in camp will be a key focus. An impetus on exerting their will in the trenches has already been put forth.
There are still detractors who feel Harris wasn’t worth a first round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. If they’re basing their opinion on last season, they are likely focusing solely on an eye test.
Harris wasn’t as flashy in 2022. He didn’t have as many carries or spectacular moments. Those debates will likely continue about last season.
In 2023, however, everything is pointing to Harris having, potentially, his career best NFL season with the Steelers. Harris doesn’t have to be the workhorse or bell cow as the lone ball carrier. He can be utilized in different sets. He has the ability to get into the open field and switch to a receiver role. Above all, he’s shown a skill set that Pittsburgh is willing to build around.
Add to all that the fact that many NFL teams aren’t sure how to adjust from opponents that stopped getting into shootouts in the passing game to opponents that utilized offensive backs more creatively, and the Steelers have a step up on potential competition.
