Najee’s 5th will cost 7 million

I can argue this both ways for and against Harris. I do understand the value of cost certainty and the workhorse mentality of Harris especially in bad weather not to mention his durability and from that perspective it sucks. But if you have to block a certain way for Harris because he isn’t good in specific schemes it makes your offense alot more predictable and less successful. The other thing is lets be honest with ourselves they aren’t bringing Harris back next year. If he doesn’t play well its b=obvious. If he plays well he plays himself into a more lucrative contract and if they balked at 7 million why in the heck would they spend more? Its obvious to me they made their choice and it is Warren. They weren’t going to sign both of them. Perhaps their are some big backs coming out in the draft next year they really like they think they can get in rd 2 or 3 or 4. Khan definitely seems to be thinking down the road with these decisions.

 

Now that they have passed on the option, I agree that he is gone. They didn't have to pay both guys. They can control Warren through 2025. It would have made more sense to keep both that long, but try to extend Warren and bring in a workhorse type to pair with him in 2026.

I'm not sure they do have to block a certain way to allow Harris to be more effective. I think it was more of a matter of the line doing a poor job when they were running those schemes. A big part of that was Okorafor. He is just a terrible run blocker. Jones was a huge upgrade in that regard. Getting rid of Cole should help, too, assuming Frazier is ready to go from day one.

 

That’s a good point but if he has a monster year and doesn’t get hurt you might want to pay the piper for a 1 year deal rather then extend him 3/4 years when you know a decline is going to occur. I guess it comes down to what the dollar amounts look like both ways. Or as you mentioned this just might simply mean this is his last year with us.

 

The only ways this could be a good decision are if he declines this year or they somehow get him for less than $7 million for 2025 anyway. I doubt either of those things will happen.

 

No doubt Jones made a big difference but what is hard to evaluate is they also changed their blocking scheme up right around when Jones came in and went with more gap blocking and lined Harris up 7 yards back which is what I was screaming for.

 

If thats the case they sure did a poor job of planning for his exit unless they think Cordage patterson is going to serve in that role.

 

That was my follow up thought. When a player has his 5th year option denied by the team, trade talks follow shortly after.

I think this offense would fall off a cliff without Najee, but if the Steelers future plans don't involve Najee, you have to wonder is Najee is on the trade block.

 

I always thought that was the plan with a 1st round running back. If healthy after his rookie deal, Pickup his 5th year option, and then if all is still going good, Tag him for his 6th year, and then draft another 1st round RB and start all over again.

4 year contract, followed by a 1 year option, followed again by a 1 year Tag. And then Start all over again with a new guy.

 

I think it was more a matter of the line's limitations than Harris's when they were struggling. Warren probably is the better option when the line is playing poorly, but the Steelers just invested quite heavily in the offensive line. Now what they need is a back who can take advantage, not only gaining yards, but wearing down the defense. Harris is better suited to that role than Warren.

 

Agreed. This offense is not set up to function properly without Harris. Their strength is the one-two punch in the running game. The improvements on the line should make them even more effective.

 

So did You trust their judgment to play KFP, and Trubisky all that time over Mason??? They are not God's. Unless they sign Najee in a different way.... not picking up His 5th year option was dumb.....no matter how You slice it.
This whole ypa nonsense (and this isn't to You, but to the people that Keep pointing to it) is funny....almost 80% of the time the 2nd RB has a higher YPA throughout the league, and why a bunch of non understanding fans always think their 2nd, or 3rd back is better....it what happens when You are the bell cow, and the D knows it.

 

Not all of that is entirely true.

The split was not even. Harris carried the ball 255 times compared to 149 for Warren. That is not even.

Harris did not start playing well after Canada was fired. It started sooner, when they replaced Okorafor with Jones.

 

harris has vision of the hole problems. there were holes to run through that he just runs past only to get bottled up. he even did it when okrafor was on the field. i'm not saying there are always holes but many times there are just not where he's running. one cut into the hole would gain him far better per carry stats but he just misses them too often. still hope they try to re-sign him or we pick up someone else if they don't intend to. corderell patterson has a lot of tape as a one cut power runner. i think he could be quite beneficial to us this year.

 

unfortunately I did trust them on playing Pickett. I think they had to let is play out and see what he had. They certainly make mistakes. Look at Canada. This one feels different though.

I think there is more to this behind the scenes. You notice Warren was around all the draft festivities last weekend doing interviews but Najee was mia. Could be nothing. I think the bigger reason is they don’t feel like he is a fit for the wide zone scheme. I can see both sides of this one. I would have preferred they offered the 5th year but they didn’t so they obviously have questions about Najee long term and they believe there are better options out there.

it can certainly backfire. But if your gonna pick a position to do this with and most the NFL seems to have devalued the rb position this may be the best position to do it with. You can absolutely get good rb’s in the third round and there is usually a lot of serviceable backs in free agency.

The value Najee brings is durability, reliability in bad weather games and no fumbles.

 

All backs occasionally miss a hole, but it is tougher to spot them when the center and right tackle are both constantly being shoved into the backfield.

 

Well... Pat doesn't get a fifth year option for he isn't a first round pick. Mind you, I said extension. I am more concerned about that.


Good news is that there is some talent in the 2025 Draft. Bad news is, at this current juncture, there isn't much depth for the team to dive into as far as I see. This definitley will change so hope springs eternal there.

 

Harris carried the ball 106 more times. Harris got 52.4 percent of the team's rushing attempts. Warren had only 30.6 percent. That's not an even split.

Yes, Warren caught more passes. That's what a third-down back does.

The offense got even better after Canada was fired. It helped that they played the Bengals twice after that happened, but Harris started to get rolling before that. Was 82 yards and 5.1 yards per carry against the Packers not good?

 

The problem is we are going to have at least four holes to fill next year with DT, CB, WR and now RB. If they go and actually sign a WR this year then I will feel alot better.

 

Good players at any position can be found in the 3rd round. But the percentage of drafting a successful NFL player drops increasingly with each passing round. This new "PFF generation" of fan, likes to spread the nonsense that all running backs are created equal. That is a false narrative.

 

I let Najee walk..
Attempt to sign Jaylen Warren to a 3-4 year deal at maybe 3.5 to 4.5 million per plus a nice amount guaranteed.
Then draft a guy mid rounds to late next year maybe even get a few undrafted guys.

RB is not a position to get a ton of money invested in for your team. Tell me the last time a franchise RB went won his team a Super Bowl... I will wait.

Patriots won tons of Super Bowls with a bunch or rag tag guys at RB.... you need the QB. Running back is dime a dozen.

I like Najee good guy. Over reached for him and drafted too high.

Good at stiff arms. Doesn't break big runs, 3-4 yards and cloud of dust guy..

Warren more explosive and runs harder. He's hungry. Feed the hunger.

 

When he spoke up last year about the lack of commitment by players and lack of structure, I knew he was done. To me that is an indictment of the Head Coach so I'm not surprised they declined his option. The question is will he play hard to get a new contract or go the route of Pickens i.e I don't want to get hurt. Najee is a better blocker as well in the pass game. Maybe he gets packaged in a trade for one of the WR's we've been hearing about, then they sign an UDFA RB.