This is the second in a series examining the Pittsburgh Steelers roster, position by position, heading into the offseason.
Today: Running backs
Since the Pittsburgh Steelers last won a postseason game, they have relied on a first-round pick, a second-rounder and a third-round selection to be their leading rusher.
Could it be time for them to revert to an undrafted free agent as their top back? It worked well enough in 2008, the last time the franchise won a Super Bowl, when Willie Parker was the team’s leading rusher.
Le’Veon Bell set team postseason rushing records in 2016, yet he was the running back of record when the Steelers lost the AFC championship game that year and again in the 2017 division round for the upset loss at home to Jacksonville.
The streak has carried through to James Conner (2020) and Najee Harris (2021, 2023 and 2024).
With Harris set to become an unrestricted free agent, Jaylen Warren may be next to take over the top spot in the backfield. After all, signs were pointing to that ascension late in the season.
Harris may have rushed for four 1,000-yard seasons in as many years with the Steelers, but he was on the field for fewer snaps than Warren down the stretch. Of course, the Steelers never led in any of their five season-ending defeats, which made it difficult for a power runner such as Harris to see the field.
Still, even in the transition from Matt Canada to Arthur Smith as offensive coordinator, the Steelers showed faith in Warren as a change-of-pace back, third-down runner and pass catcher out of the backfield.
Injuries limited Warren to 511 rushing yards and 821 from scrimmage this year, a reduction from 784 and 1,154 from the 2023 season. His 4.3 yards per carry also was the lowest of his three-year career, yet it was higher than Harris’ career best (4.1 in 2023) in his past four seasons.
When the Steelers declined the $6.97 million fifth-year option on Harris’ contract in May, they did so wanting to see how he fared in Smith’s offense, and coach Mike Tomlin said at his season-ending news conference that he had no issues with Harris’ productivity.
“Naj has had an awesome four years here,” Tomlin said. “I understand that he’s a free agent. It’s the very beginning of that process in terms of us assessing what we’re capable of doing or what we desire today, and I’d imagine it’s the same thing from a player’s perspective. But, rest assured, we’ve had a good experience with him and obviously the ridiculous consistency in his performance in terms of producing four straight 1,000-yard seasons speaks for itself.”
Warren, with his versatility, was the preferred option at the end of the season. He played more than half the offensive snaps in five of the final six games, including playoffs. The only time Harris had a longer stretch of playing time was in the regular-season finale against Cincinnati when the Steeler tried a run-first approach to no avail.
Smith subscribes to a run-heavy approach that team president Art Rooney II has favored in the past, and the Steelers tied for the third-most rushing attempts in the league. By contrast, the Steelers finished No. 11 in rushing yards per game thanks to a 4.1 average that was 20th in the league.
“We like to ride the wave that our running game provides and produce chunks in the play-action passing game off it and control games and minimize the potential of negativity in terms of turning the ball over,” Tomlin said. “At different times, we had really good traction and success in that area. It didn’t feel that way in the end, but we need to go back and comb through it in totality and understand why.”
Warren will be a restricted free agent in March, meaning the Steelers can match any offer or potentially receive draft-pick compensation if they tender a contract. The tender amounts are $3.185 million (right of first refusal), $5.217 million (second-round tender) and $7.279 million (first-round tender).
The only other proven NFL running back on the roster is Cordarrelle Patterson, who played just 13% of the snaps and contributed 215 scrimmage yards. He could be cut for a $2.8 million cap savings.
The Steelers could supplement the roster with a low-cost free agent before selecting another runner in the draft. This may be the year for the Steelers to find value in the middle rounds.
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Senior Bowl director Jim Nagy told AL.com that this year’s crop of draft-eligible runners is the “best running back group that the NFL has seen in a draft in a while, top to bottom.”
Under contract: Cordarrelle Patterson ($3.75 million cap hit for 2025), Evan Hull ($960,000), Aaron Shampklin ($960,000), Jonathan Ward ($960,000),
Impending free agent: Najee Harris
Restricted free agent: Jaylen Warren
Outside perspective: “Sure, there are better options at the running back position than Harris, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a more durable and reliable back,” wrote NFL.com analyst and former running back Maurice Jones-Drew, who ranked Harris as the No. 18 back in the league. “He became just the third player in the last 20 seasons to have at least 1,000 rush yards in each of his first four NFL seasons, joining Adrian Peterson and Chris Johnson. He may have just played his last down for Pittsburgh, but he’ll be an above-average runner somewhere, as long as he’s healthy.”