Last season, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin broke from a long-standing tradition of his. After sticking to the philosophy of a single workhorse running back, Tomlin went to a dual-purpose backfield in the second half of the 2022 season and it worked like a charm.
The Steelers drafted Najee Harris in the first round in 2021 to be the workhorse and as a rookie, it happened. But last season, undrafted rookie Jaylen Warren burst on the scene and not only proved to be a nice player in tandem with Harris but showed true starter potential.
Warren’s final stat line was 77 carries for 379 rushing yards and 28 receptions for 214 receiving yards. This was good enough for Warren to be named one of the four most underrated running backs in the NFL by NBC Sports.
Personally, we hope to see Warren and Harris go 50/50 on touches in 2023. Warren completely supplanted Harris as the receiving threat out of the backfield and with a young quarterback, a safety valve like that is invaluable and needs to be on the field.
Let us know in the comments what you want to see from Warren in 2023.
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