Tag: Jaylen Warren

Steelers other roster needs could mean a trade of RB Najee Harris

The Steelers might trade Najee Harris before he hits free agency.

The more we think about the situation between the Pittsburgh Steelers and running back Najee Harris, the less inclined to believe Harris will be on the team after this season. We even wonder if Harris will even make it to the trade deadline this season.

Harris has been everything as advertised after being the Steelers first-round pick in the 2021 NFL draft. Despite underwhelming offensive line play, Harris has topped 1,000 rushing yards in each of the last three seasons. A feat no other running back in the league has accomplished during that same stretch.

But Harris is on the wrong end of the business side of things. Running backs are grossly undervalued in the NFL and Harris is on the wrong end of a running back by committee with Jaylen Warren. Warren is a younger, cheaper and more explosive option on the roster and has proven to be capable to carry the run game.

Taking it all a step further, it might not just be a case of the Steelers not re-signing Harris after the year. With some definite roster needs, Harris might end up part of a trade during training camp for a team that could use a power back and might have a wide receiver they could part with.

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Steelers sign former Chiefs RB La’Mical Perine

The Steelers sign another veteran running back.

Running back might not seem like a serious need for the Pittsburgh Steelers with Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren but every team needs a viable third running back who can help in other ways including special teams. Just days after being released by the Kansas City Chiefs, the Steelers might have gotten that No. 3 running back when they signed La’Mical Perine.

Perine is heading into his fourth NFL season. He was originally a fourth-round pick out of Florida in the 2020 NFL draft to the New York Jets. His career-best season was his rookie year when he racked up 322 rushing yards on 64 carries.

Last season, Perine joined the Kansas City Chiefs and worked in a very limited role. He did start the team’s final regular-season game and finished with 76 yards on 21 carries.

Perine joins Jonathan Ward and Daijun Edwards in a competition for the team’s No. 3 spot on the depth chart.

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Steelers HC Mike Tomlin on RB Najee Harris: ‘There’s layers to it’

Mike Tomlin talked about Najee Harris but said nothing at all.

In something of a shocking piece of news this offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers chose to decline the fifth-year option on running back Najee Harris. This means Harris will play out the 2024 season and could then hit free agency.

There have been rumors about how all these things came about and whether or not the decision to decline Harris’ option was his idea or not. Head coach Mike Tomlin talked about the situation during OTAs this week and offered nothing in terms of clarification on the situation instead opting for coach speak and Tomlin-isms.

Tomlin spoke of depths of waters and layers and other “things of that nature” as he likes to say but it’s all just gobbledegook. The most obvious answer is the Steelers want to see what Harris can do in comparison to Jaylen Warren in this new offense before they commit big money to him. They are betting on not needing to pay him in free agency and Harris is betting on someone paying him big money.

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Who will lead the Steelers in rushing in 2024?

The Steelers have two starters at running back this season.

One thing we fully expect to see from the Pittsburgh Steelers offense is a prominent focus on a power run game. The team has completely rebuilt the offensive line with two huge picks in the 2024 NFL draft and history says new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith can scheme up a dominant run game.

The Steelers also have a tandem of starter-quality running backs in Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren. Either one of these backs is capable of putting up huge numbers in this system and it will be up to the coaches to sort out distribution of labor.

For Harris, he’s in an interesting position that could really complicate things. The Steelers declined Harris’ fifth-year option meaning he will play 2024 without a contract for 2025 and the potential of free agency.

At the same time, Jaylen Warren is willing and able to carry the rushing offense and could be the future of the position in Pittsburgh. We expect to see the Steelers coaches be less committed to a single workhorse back and go more by whoever has the hot hand.

Cash your vote and tell us which back you think will lead the team in rushing in 2024.

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Paul Zeise claims RB Najee Harris is ready to move on from Steelers

According to one radio host, Steelers running back Najee Harris asked to have his fifth-year option declined.

In a somewhat surprising move, the Pittsburgh Steelers declined the fifth-year option for running back Najee Harris. This means Harris will play out the final year of his rookie contract in 2024, and if the two sides don’t work out a new contract, he will hit free agency next offseason.

According to 93.7 The Fan radio host Paul Zeise, the decision to decline Harris’ fifth-year option came from Harris and not from the front office.

“Little birdie said Najee Harris actually asked for the Steelers to decline his fifth-year option because he would like to go play somewhere else,” Zeise said.

If this is the case, and we have no reason to believe it isn’t, we will find out soon enough once the season gets going. If the Steelers have no plans to bring Harris back and Harris has no plans to return, the team could easily turn to Jaylen Warren and shift the bulk of the workload to him.

But if the team wanted to be a little spiteful, why not work Harris into the ground one last time?

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Jaylen Warren highlights ‘biggest difference’ between Arthur Smith, Matt Canada

Jaylen Warren takes a subtle shot at his old offensive coordinator.

For what felt like months (because it was), all of the Pittsburgh Steelers fandom was screaming from the mountaintops for head coach Mike Tomlin to fire offensive coordinator Matt Canada. It got to a point where it seemed that Tomlin was the only person in all of football who didn’t see the harm Canada was doing to the offense.

But mercifully, Tomlin finally found his way to relieve Canada of his duties during the season and after an OC by committee approach in the second half of 2023, this offense belongs to Arthur Smith now. Smith struggled as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons but his experience as the offensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans before that and be excited about what he brings to this offense.

One guy who seems to be excited about the change is running back Jaylen Warren. He was on the Not Just Football podcast with Cam Heyward and took a shot at Canada when he talked about how Smith runs his meetings.

“His biggest difference is he’s very interactive in the meetings,” “You want to pay attention because he’s gonna call you out if you’re not paying attention. That’s happened a couple times. I think his approach to being the OC is really good.”

Every Sunday it seems like Canada was just mailing in the gameplan so it makes sense he was mailing it in during meetings too.

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Steelers ST coach kicks around idea of Justin Fields as a returner

Jaylen Warren gave out information he probably shouldn’t have on Cam Heyward’s podcast.

Ya know, not everything that gets talked about in NFL meets needs to be made public. Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jaylen Warren went on Cam Heyward’s podcast and offered up some inside information about new quarterback Justin Fields that should be just enough to get all of Steeler Nation whipped into a frenzy.

According to Warren, special teams coordinator Danny Smith has discussed the possibility of using Fields as a kicker returner this season.

Whether or not having Fields return kicks is a good idea isn’t the point. The last thing Fields needs is something like this to come out given the amount of criticism he’s taken in his young career. Many of his critics questioned if he could be an NFL quarterback and honestly, it would be disrespectful to Fields if the team asked him to do this.

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Jaylen Warren says the Steelers bizarrely considered having Justin Fields return kicks

Justin Fields returning kicks? What’s the worst that could happen?

The Steelers are still seemingly trying to figure out what to do with Justin Fields, and all options are on the table, including returning kicks. Yes — RETURNING KICKS.

After the Bears said they were done with Justin Fields and shipped him off to Pittsburgh, we kind of new that his career might look a little different. Right now, there’s no guarantee that Fields could beat out Russell Wilson for the starting quarterback role, and that truly leaves so many options open about how to use his skill set.

Field’s teammate Jaylen Warren recently revealed that the Steelers’ special teams coordinator actually considered having Justin return kicks. That’s not a typo. That was really said…OUT LOUD.

Here’s what Warren revealed about the conversation on a podcast:

“Our special teams coordinator talked about Justin Fields being back there. We were like, ‘Hold on. Hold on.’ We looked at him like, ‘Justin Fields is going to be back there?'”

Steelers 2024 offseason roster – Running back

The Steelers only have 4 running backs on their offseason roster.

One of the main reasons the Pittsburgh Steelers stayed in the mix into the playoffs last season was the late-season surge in rushing offense. This was thanks to the two-headed attack of Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren. Beyond them, there isn’t much to get excited about on the depth chart and the team is likely to add a player or two in the offseason. Here are the running backs currently on the roster.

Steelers RBs Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren open up about OC Arthur Smith

Arthur Smith is going to love having Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris on his offense.

Last season, the Pittsburgh Steelers found success running the football in the second half of the season. The offensive line started to gel, Matt Canada was gone and the coaches finally figured out the best way to utilize the running back tandem of Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren.

Now the Steelers are looking at a brand new offense with Arthur Smith as the offensive coordinator but an offense that has its roots in old-school football. Smith likes to run the football and run play action off of it. Things Harris and Warren are excited about.

“I’m excited,” Warren said. “That’s really all I know about him is that I’ve heard he likes to run the ball. That’s kind of been the identity we’re trying to establish the past couple years, I guess, so I’m excited to see what he brings to the table.”

“I really don’t know about him and what he did in Atlanta,” Harris said. “I know a little bit of when he was in Tennessee with Derrick. Hopefully, he can bring that to the Steelers.”

If you focus on what Smith did in Tennessee, several things stand out. First, Smith ran the entire run game through Derrick Henry. The top two backs in Tennessee in 2020 carried the football 425 times with 378 of those carries going to Henry. Last season, the combo of Harris and Warren carried the football 404 times. So workload won’t be an issue.

The other big thing of note for Harris and Warren is Smith doesn’t use his running backs in the passing game. Henry and Jeremy McNichols only combined for 31 catches in 2020. Harris and Warren combined for 90 catches in 2023.

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