To the surprise of nobody, Najee Harris is the newest member of the Steelers. Here’s what I think of Pittsburgh’s first pick in the NFL Draft.
The first round of the NFL Draft is in the books, and I’ve spent the morning gearing up for day two (my personal favorite of the three). The board was laid out in such a way that gave the Pittsburgh Steelers many options they could have gone early, but fans knew about their infatuation with Alabama running back Najee Harris.
Since early in the draft process, Harris has been the single-most mocked player to the Steelers with the 24th overall pick, and when he was available to them in the first round, they wasted no time running to the podium with their selection. Here are my thoughts on the selection:
The Good: Najee Harris will give Steelers an immediate boost
In the short term, I have little doubts that Najee Harris will be the player that everyone expects him to be. At over 6’1” and 232 pounds, Harris has remarkably good movement skill for a back his size and he has showcased the ability to do it all throughout his time at Alabama.
Harris will be the starter from the gate -we know this. James Conner has departed and joined the Arizona Cardinals and the Steelers were left with Benny Snell and Anthony McFarland as their top two options. While these two young backs are still likely to carve out a piece of the action, they will only see the field a fraction of what Harris will.
The big, versatile running back is a better prospect coming out of college than Le’Veon Bell back in 2014 and he will have a chance to be a game-changer for the Steelers. This is only the second time they have taken a running back in the first round in the past 32 years.
The Bad: Did the Steelers reach on a position of need?
What is the best-case scenario for Najee Harris in the NFL? If you have been following along closely with what is happening with the running back position in the league, even the great players seldom have lengthy, productive careers.
Take Le’Veon Bell, for example. Bell’s last impactful season came at the age of 25, and it has been all downhill since then. Todd Gurley was very much the same way, as his production and efficiency fell off a cliff at a very similar age. Even if Harris turns out to be terrific, the Steelers may be compelled to pay him a massive second contract with hardly any tread left on the tires (we’ve seen this time and again around the league).
Najee is already 23 years old and he will be 28 following his fifth-year option. This means that the best-case scenario may be for him to give Pittsburgh 4-5 really good years before moving on. This is not, by any means, an indictment on the player; rather the position. The running back position in today’s NFL has never been less valuable. While Harris could prove to be a treat in the passing game thanks to his soft hands and every-down skill set, his time at the top may not last very long, and he could be an afterthought five years from now.
Grade: C+
I like Najee Harris as a player. It is rare that you see workhorse backs with his size and skill set be able to dominate at every level of the game like he did at Alabama. In addition, Crimson Tide running backs, for the most part, have very good reputations of NFL success – with Derrick Henry and Josh Jacobs being two prime examples.
Drafting a player like Harris in the first round doesn’t mean that Pittsburgh can’t have a successful NFL Draft, but it does leave me with a few questions. My biggest knock doesn’t have anything to do with my assessment of the player. I think Harris is one of the better running back prospects to come out in the past five years. However, when you consider that running back has the shortest shelf-life on any position in the league, I have to knock this pick a bit.
Nobody is denying that the Steelers rushing attack – which ranked dead last in the league last year – needed to be improved. However, there were other means of improving the offense, and I think that needs to start with the trenches. As of now, the Steelers appear to have just one young offensive lineman they can start to build around in Kevin Dotson, as I am in no way sold on Zach Banner or Chukwuma Okorafor at this point. Najee Harris is a solid player, but players one of the least important and most replaceable positions in all of football.
As I have mentioned many times before, I truly believe that Najee Harris is going to be a very good player in the NFL. In fact, he has the makeup to potentially be the best running back in the league. However, I just don’t see enough evidence to support taking running backs in the first round and I still had over a dozen players graded higher on my draft board when the Steelers were on the clock. Harris will be very good, but as it goes with running backs, his time on top will likely be brief.