5 Steelers who need to see more playing time down the stretch

RB Anthony McFarland

This case is a little bit different than the one I’ve argued for other players like James Washington and Alex Highsmith. Rookie running back, Anthony McFarland, has been less than impressive when called upon this year. He’s tripped over his own feet and missed a few gaping holes early on. However, he deserves to get an increased opportunity down the stretch.

We all know that McFarland has blazing 4.4 speed, and for an offense that has failed to consistently run the ball all season, we would love to see this on display. Unfortunately, McFarland hasn’t been given much of a chance to show what he can do. The rookie running back wasn’t even active for 3 of the first 4 weeks this year, and he was given 4 carries or less in each contest from Week 5 to Week 13.

James Conner has missed the past two weeks for the Steelers and it was Benny Snell, not Anthony McFarland, who stepped into a bigger role. Unfortunately, Snell was terribly inefficient with his touches. While McFarland wasn’t spectacular either, he flashed on a few runs and showed the coaches enough reason why he deserves more snaps moving forward. From an athletic standpoint, he’s the most talented running back on this team, and it would be nice if Pittsburgh can find ways to utilize his talent down the stretch.