With the Pittsburgh Steelers roller-coaster of a season coming to an end in the wild-card round on Saturday, star running back Najee Harris, 26, may be looking to disembark and find himself a new ride.
In postgame interviews following the loss to Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens — the Steelers’ fifth consecutive defeat to close out the season — Prime Video’s Taylor Rooks says Harris was “visibly frustrated but candid.”
He wasn’t the only one.
“[Harris] said that the guys have been saying things in the locker room that he didn’t necessarily want to say on camera, [but] that he felt like, throughout the losing streak, a lot of guys were letting what the media was saying infiltrate the locker room, and he wanted to see how they responded today,” Rooks reported after Saturday’s game.
“He closed his media availability [answering the] question, ‘Have you put much thought into whether you want to stay with the Steelers?’ And he said ‘I have not put much thought in that at all.’”
Harris — who is set to hit free agency after Pittsburgh declined his fifth-year option ahead of the 2024 season — was noticeably quiet in the Steelers’ 28-14 loss, amᴀssing just 58 yards from scrimmage.
No one on the offensive side of the ball had a particularly impressive day, but Harris’ meager 17 yards rushing represented a particularly poor performance.
During the regular season, the fourth-year back collected over 1,000 yards on the ground (for the fourth consecutive season) and another 283 through the air, plus six total touchdowns and zero turnovers. His 4.4 yards per touch was the most since his Pro Bowl rookie campaign,
Harris doesn’t flash the same explosiveness as some of the league’s other preeminent backs, but he is a former first-round pick and, having never missed a start during his Steelers tenure, uber-reliable at a notoriously unreliable position.
The Steelers may be willing to let him walk in free agency given the steady emergence of Jaylen Warren, the third-year back out of Oklahoma State who steadily dug into Harris’ workload throughout the 2024 campaign.
A new second-string back, then, could be found in the open market or among the talent in the upcoming draft class.
Major decisions loom elsewhere up and down the Steelers depth chart — nowhere more so than under center.
The Russell Wilson experiment worked until it didn’t, though the veteran, despite his recently expired contract, “loves” the city and “hopes” he’s still employed there next year.
Another proven and perhaps-available veteran in Aaron Rodgers might be appealing given Pittsburgh’s aging defensive core and closing championship window — if you can call it that. Or the Steel City can run it back with Justin Fields, hoping and praying that his early season successes weren’t a fluke.
At least head coach Mike Tomlin is in Pittsburgh to stay. Probably.
