The 2023 season has gotten off to a painfully slow start for Najee Harris. His numbers through three games are nearly identical to last year (40-128 to 35-139) when he played with a Lisfranc injury suffered late in training camp.
Steelers fans expect the best from Harris, and no one can blame them. After all, Pittsburgh spent its 24th overall selection on him in the 2021 NFL draft.
But there’s no injury (that’s been made public anyway) that he can use as a crutch.
Comparing Harris to his backfield mate Jaylen Warren is like comparing apples to bananas. Apples and bananas are fruits, and Harris and Warren are running backs — that’s where the comparisons end. They have totally different sizes and, thus, totally different styles of running, yielding contrasting results.
But the underwhelming offensive line, not unlike early in the 2022 season, isn’t doing Harris many favors. For all the talk in the offseason of the Steelers relying heavily on the ground game to take pressure off Kenny Pickett, it hasn’t happened. The unit was anticipated to be vastly improved over last year, even with the only change being guard Isaac Seumalo.
There’s simply nowhere to run through for Harris. When he gets the rock, he’s often running into bodies of loaded boxes and clogged lanes.
Despite Harris’ ineffectiveness through four games, he should have an opportunity to bounce back versus the Houston Texans tomorrow. The Texans are terrible against the run (353 yards allowed) and missing tackles galore (17).
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