Najee’s 5th will cost 7 million

Najee spoke his mind about the RB position last year, and apparently the Steelers countered his argument by not pickup up his option.

Now it is Najee's move..... How about a TJ Watt Hold-In until the Steelers give him a new contract extension for this year and he gets paid?



*I looked at Najee's rookie contract and it is 100% Guaranteed. His Cap hit is $4.15 million if he is on the team or not. How unusual is it for a rookie contract to be fully GUARANTEED?
Najee Harris | NFL | Spotrac.com
Najee Harris signed a 4 year , $13,047,447 contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers, including $6,849,052 signing bonus, $13,047,447 guaranteed,

Cap Hit for 2024: $4.15 million, Dead Cap if Released $4.15 million.

 

In terms of the salary cap, fifth-year options act much the same as a one-year extension. They have no impact on the fourth-year amounts (aside from making the base salary guaranteed if it hadn't been already, as Harris's was), and adds the player's qualifying option amount as guaranteed salary in the fifth year.

Harris's current deal carries a $4.1M cap number in 2024: $2.4M of base salary + $1.7M of prorated bonus money. So had they picked up the option his 2025 cap hit would have become $6.9M. His 2024 numbers were unaffected.

One thing interesting to note is that contract AAV's are recalculated after an extension as well as with a new contract. It becomes the average value of the years remaining and years extended, in order to update the player's current contract value. If the Steelers would have exercised the option, Harris's AAV for 2024/25 would have been $5.5M. That would have ranked 12th amongst current RB AAVs, just below James Conner ($7M), Miles Sanders ($6.35M), and David Montgomery ($6M); tied with Devin Singletary; and just above the contracts signed this offseason by Austin Ekeler ($4.25M), Raheem Mostert ($4.130M), and Zach Moss ($4M).

To me it would've been a fair amount by the numbers (OTC also put Harris's 2023 valuation at $6.6M), which really begs the question of whether something else factored into the org's decision to decline.

 

I like Najee but he makes bewildering reads at times. Might be a more obvious problem under the new OC and line. We'll see.

 

It only would have locked them into that value for one year. At that point, he would have been five years into his career, a good time to let a running back walk.

 

Thank you for contributing nothing of value to the discussion, woodwork. Maybe some comic relief. Also, he isn’t gone. They gave him under contract for 2024. Next time, ask an adult to explain the situation to you before you post.

 

Most RBs fall off a cliff around year 4 or 5 this is a smart move. If he plays extremely well this year you could always franchise him next season.

 

A better question is what becomes of Pat Freiermuth?! Does he get extended or not?! If not, yikes!!


2021 Draft Class; another massive whiff by Colbert.

 

I would not take fifth year option for Super fragile and always hurt Muth. Noyt owrht it. As far as Najee goes, he is the second best running back on the team and we all know it. Hold out if you want to. We can find rb on market easy.

 

Franchising him in 2025 would cost a lot more money than the fifth-year option would have if they had used it. That concern of decline is why it would have been better to use the option than to even consider an extension.

 

Again, that the current management made the mistake of passing on the fifth-year option does not make Harris a whiff. Freiermuth, however, was definitely a mistake. He's not a bad player, but they could have fixed their center problem three years ago. Having Humphrey in the middle instead of Cole last year would have made a huge difference.

 

I think this is more accurate than the player. I think it has more to do with scheme. I expect them to work a deal with Warren

 

And just pray it never rains again.

 

Yeah I see what your saying. when I referenced extension I meant 5th year option. On the rest of this regarding Harris’s ability.... you and I are just gonna have to disagree. I see a plodding back who lacks speed and explosion and doesn’t use his size and power enough. You want to blame it all on the line. Its probably somewhere in the middle.

 

Thats what I am thinking. They aren’t going to put money into both of them.

 

We have watched him running into walls or getting hit in the backfield before he can get going for huge chunks of the last three seasons. I do think at least some of the dancing is due to him not trusting the line, but that makes sense with the problems they have had up front. It's not all on the line. The foot injury was a big part of his struggles the first half of the 2022 season. He also needs to use his power more consistently. I disagree with the characterization of his abilities, too. He lacks great speed, but he is explosive over shorter distances.

 

I forgot about his foot injury at the beginning of the year. To me though where you really see the difference in Najee and Jaylen is when they catch a pass out of the back field in the flat. If they catch it while they are standing you really see a difference in the explosion and elusiveness of Warren verses Najee. Najee is 245 lbs so naturally its going to take a few more steps before he can reach top speed. The problem is sometimes he would try to juke guys in the open field it rarely worked for him. Warren can get away with that because he is faster and more elusive. When Najee try it he actually diminishes all of his attributes because he slows down to juke thus making him self an easier target to tackle. Then when he tries to start back up to run through the guy he is too close to him and it becomes more of a push or leg drive instead of a pop. I liked when they lined him up 7yards back and he just ran full steam right up the middle. He was hard to stop. The unknown for me is can they do that and run the wide zone and have him still be effective? The last thing you want is a big guy running laterally towards the sidelines because they become an easy target for the defense.

Obviously Henry while in TN had success under Arthur Smith. The question is whether Najee is as fast as Henry and does he have the vision of Henry. I think he may be a notch below. I guess we will see. The one thing for sure is Khan is not afraid to make bold moves. The safe move would have been to do the fifth year option. I also heard they aren’t planning on bringing back Daniels next year. I’m not sure why when they have all of that salary cap space but I guess they have plans and they are sticking to them. Obviously the Rookie guard would have to show them something to not extend Daniels but I kind of like it because you let these guys walk and hopefully upgrade the positions all the while keeping the money spent on those positions relatively low and you pick up compensatory picks assuming you didn’t sign outside free agents. Thats how the Ravens have like 5 picks every year in the third round. They just keep on replenishing depth don’t over spend on certain positions and only spend big on the marquess positions. Its a new way of doing things we aren’t used too. You get attached to these players and hate to see them go but if there is a better way to run a team I think we should at least be open to it.

 

Oh, I agree that Harris is far better suited for a game like that. Harris is sure handed, and when there's really bad conditions it affects the backs ability to explode (which affects Warren far more than it does Harris). Najee can just slog it forward, not fumble and get the 3-4 ypc he generally does regardless of weather. I don't think this means that Warren can't be a #1 back. I get that he's different that what Pittsburgh usually deploys as their feature back (he's not Bettis, Bell, Franco, Morris, etc.), but we showed that we aren't afraid to try different types of feature backs than usual with Parker (who was utilized for speed).

Yes, Warren isn't as sure handed as Harris. That is a fact. That wouldn't stop me from featuring Warren more. They complement each other well, so I am all for keeping them both... but don't overspend on Najee. There's dozens of dudes that can be big and average 4 ypc. There aren't dozens of dudes that have Warren's skillset. He's a bit more unique. He's a great blocker, a really good receiver out of the backfield, and a very effective and efficient runner. He brings things to this offense that Najee simply doesn't have. If I could only keep one, I'd keep Warren and it wouldn't be much of a thought. Keep in mind, I'd prefer to keep both.... but at the right price for Najee.

We will see what this means. There is still a chance that we sign Najee to a multi-year deal. I wouldn't go much higher than the 3 year 15-20 million range, though I don't know if that will be enough to make him want to stay (initial inclination is that he is going to want a bunch more than that). He brings leadership that the offense needs (which definitely adds value), but he is far from irreplaceable. Just my thoughts on it.

 

He runs into walls and his own linemen because his runner's vision sucks. He dances because he doesn't process the openings quick enough and he struggles to improvise and set up his blocks. I know the injury hindered him in 2022, I know that the line (and OC) didn't do him any favors... but Najee is just a very average back. He is just ok. I hope that us not picking up his option means that we aren't considering paying him top 10 back money for a "just ok" player.

 

well, no they don't.

said 50 different times, Warren will get a nice contract extension in the coming weeks. You just can't pay everyone, we know that.

 

he does have poor vision way too much. misses GAPING HOLES when they are / were there.

 

Harris isn't as explosive as Henry, but he doesn't have to be the best back in the league to be effective.

This isn't about attachment. That is an inaccurate and lazy argument. I have given arguments that have nothing to do with that. Do you not understand the value of cost certainty? Do you not realize that Harris can do things Warren can't, such as carry a heavy workload and hold on to the ball in bad weather.

 

I guess counting on good weather is a valid strategy. lol

 

Maybe Najee is part of the trade talks McFadden has been talking about?