Are Tomlin and Najee TOO Close???

Najee’s love for coach T is well documented, has mentioned multiple times how he spends a lot of time at Tomlins house.

Tomlin says he see’s Najee as a picture of himself at 22-23, how similar the are form growing up to viewing the world.

While I know Tomlin is a players coach and a mentor type to Najee will he be able to make the Right Decision concerning Najee and his on field performance.??

Will their closeness hinder Tomlin from sitting Najee In favor of another RB who is better performing on the field. ???

Cajun

 

No.


Personal relationships mean little in terms of performance. I do agree that Najee has regressed this season but mainly due to injury. Now, some of his reads when running has been suspect for certain and his decision making is off compared to his rookie season. That said, some of this blame also befalls on the Offensive Line.


Dan Moore clearly is still taking his lumps, Kevin Dotson has regressed badly, Mason Cole has his ups and downs, James Daniels started out a but rough but has turned it up and sans Tampa Bay, Chuks has been the best one of the bunch despite many believing him to be the weakest link; myself included. Success for any Offense does start with the QB but the most critical aspect is the big men up front. Besides, an Offense is not going to do much of anything without some muscle.



In short?! Tomlin has garnered and earned respect and admiration among many players League wide; be they Steeler or otherwise. Najee is just the latest example. However, if Tomlin feels that Najee is not performing well, changes will be made.... if they have not already. Do not believe me?!


Jaylen Warren's snap count has gone up considerably since the Jets game. I believe his highest total output of snaps was seen against Tampa Bay. I look for that to continue.

 

I’m not sure of the snap counts, so you could be right on that, but Warren only had 2 carries against Tampa and 0 receptions.

 

He requires to much help from tight ends. Need an upgrade and they should look to draft a stud in round one.

Besides the penalties I feel you wouldn't hear about Dotson. And the alternative? Kendrick Green. Hell to the no! I can't believe that he is on the 53.

Cole has done a pretty solid job.

Danials is improving and I like his fire

Chuks was the whipping boy and like you said he is the most steady of the line.

They need to get better at run blocking as we all know. But it does seem that Warren makes better decisions and hits the hole quick. I still feel that Najee isn't 100% just because he has removed the steel plate.

 

Drafting Najee wasn't even Tomlin's decision. Tomlin though does support the men that work for the Steelers and that is commendable. Let's not forget that this is a job, and the job is much easier to do when your boss supports you.

 

HELL to the No love it. lol

 

I watched highlight tape of Harris in college. In the whole highlight tape the longest run was like 10 yards. Derrick Henry is big has a lot of runs over 30 yards. The Steelers should have observed this before they drafted him.

 

First carry 13 yards
2nd carry 31 yards
3rd carry 10 yards
4th carry 41 yards

 

Najee Bust Harris

I think another poster called him Trent Richardson 2.0

 

I don't think that was choosing Warren over Harris so much as them wanting to rush to the line and run the play so the Bucs couldn't change personnel.

 

Who made that Highlight tape. I've seen Him break off many in just one game. LoL

 

How do you know he wasn't Tomlin's decision ?

 

I think if we had a decent OL &OC this would be a moot point.

 

Because nothing that’s wrong with this team is ever Mikes fault. It’s the dang players just not producing!!!

 

I must admit that, while there’s probably nothing wrong with Tomlin having Najee over for dinner and looking at him as a favorite son if you will, it does make me a little uncomfortable. And with regard to the YouTube video above that calls Najee the most dangerous running back in college football I would ask this question; What happened to that guy?!! He’s become a plodder who has a hard time getting to openings before they close again. He’s basically morphed into Benny Snell.

 

I mean who doesn’t love a little Benny Snell Football. 1.2 yards and a pile of dust!

 

Actually, Najee’s career YPC is not that much better than Snell’s, 3.8 vs. 3.5. Isaac Redman and Jonathan Dwyer have better career averages than Harris, albeit with a smaller sample size. He’s averaging 3.2 YPC this season. At any rate, he hasn’t performed like a first round draft pick up to this point in his career and, while I wouldn’t label him as a bust just yet, I would call him a disappointment.

 

3.2 YPC is horrendous. I guess we can wait to see into next season but he looks like a guy who will be out of Football soon. He has no vision just aimlessly runs into a mass of humanity every carry.

 

I’m sure the lisfranc injury has affected him some. That’s a MAJOR injury for a running back. Very concerned about his career trajectory thus far.

 

How much time have you spent at your boss's home? I would venture to say not a lot and there is a good reason for that. JMO>

 

Very true, at least in my working career.

 

What short memories people have.

 

Depends on what industry you're in. In my business, I sometimes spend weeks on a boat with the boss. I would venture to say that my brothers have never been to their boss' houses.

 

There have been a couple of radio interviews with Steelers insiders that have said that fans overestimate Tomlin's power in the organization. He is no different than almost every NFL coach in the league with how much control he has over the roster, which is very little. Rooney and Colbert handle the drafts and free agent signings. Yes, Tomlin has input, but he has no decision making power. Both interviews also said that when asked when Harris was drafted, that a RB would not have been Tomlin's first choice.

Frankly, it makes sense. Tomlin has never shied away from saying certain things are on him and not once over the past 15 years has he said I signed this guy or I drafted this guy.