Fourth-year RB Najee Harris is without doubt one of the key free brokers the Steelers have pending in March. A former first-round choose, Harris didn’t have his fifth-year possibility picked up by the staff. Over the course of the season, he has addressed his future numerous occasions, all the time with the identical angle. Basically, it’s not the time for that.
The Steelers’ season has come to a untimely finish, however Najee Harris nonetheless isn’t planning his future. Requested by Brian Batko if he want to be again with the staff in 2025, Chris Adamski quotes him as saying, “I haven’t given a lot thought to that.”
For the season, Harris completed with 1,043 dashing yards and 6 touchdowns on 263 carries. He averaged simply round 4 yards per carry, however with a career-low success charge of 43.7 p.c. Harris did determine extra into the Steelers’ passing recreation with 283 yards on 36 catches. His six whole touchdowns are a career-low in his 4 seasons.
Najee Harris’ season performed out very like the Steelers’ on offense, fluctuating between cold and hot. Within the last three video games main into the bye, he rushed for a mixed 322 yards and two touchdowns on 54 makes an attempt, dashing for practically six yards per carry. Outdoors of that three-game stretch, he by no means topped 75 dashing yards in a single recreation.
In opposition to the Ravens, the Steelers rushed for simply 29 yards on 11 whole makes an attempt with a protracted of 5 yards. Najee Harris contributed six makes an attempt for 17 yards, simply 2.8 yards per try. His 17 dashing yards are the third-lowest for a recreation in his profession, his fifth beneath 20 yards.
Notably, the numbers are significantly poor within the postseason. In three video games, Najee Harris has 83 dashing yards, albeit on 35 makes an attempt. That’s nonetheless beneath 2.4 yards per try for the Steelers in three postseason video games, with zero touchdowns.
The Steelers entered this season aiming to ignite the run recreation. Whereas plenty of their failure to take action constantly falls on the offensive line, they have to additionally think about a change at working again. Najee Harris is an unrestricted free agent, they usually already handed on an inexpensive fifth-year possibility.
Their different reply within the backfield is Jaylen Warren, who’s a restricted free agent in 2025. The Steelers are more likely to tender him on the second-round degree, however Cordarrelle Patterson’s $3 million contract might not survive. As for Harris, it would rely, maybe, on what his market seems like.
An early take a look at the 2025 working again free company market consists of Najee Harris, Aaron Jones, Nick Chubb, J.Okay. Dobbins, A.J. Dillon, Javonte Williams, and a large solid of characters. It’s unclear if the Steelers are nonetheless dedicated to a bell-cow again — in the event that they have been to have one. They clearly stopped viewing Harris as such a participant over the course of his profession. Warren’s emergence had one thing to do with that, however he would have performed extra in the event that they noticed him in that gentle. However how a lot does Harris need to come again, relying on what sort of market he has?
