5 Steelers that will be unfairly made scapegoats during 2021

Steelers Najee Harris

While Najee Harris has already won over the hearts of most of Steelers’ nation after displaying great character and physical traits early in OTA’s, there is still the camp that is divided on him as a first-round pick. With the team’s offensive line in general disarray, Harris certainly doesn’t enter the easiest of paths to succeed this year. He will need to create a lot of holes on his own, and while he displayed that ability at the collegiate level, the talent he will be playing against is obviously tougher.

That isn’t to say Harris will struggle, but he has some big expectations he will have to fill. Most expect the Steelers run game to rebound in a major way this season, and others are claiming Harris will stake his claim as one of the league’s best backs by year’s end. What if that doesn’t happen? Even if Harris has an ok season, where he improves the run game but doesn’t turn it into a strength, fans will come after him.

This critique would be fair if the running success of this team fell solely on his shoulders. It doesn’t though, as the offensive line plays just as critical of a role in rushing success as the running back. That means if Harris struggles, one will have to look at the line as well as Harris to figure out why the running game fell short. That won’t stop his critics from stepping out and blaming Harris as the sole reason this running game failed. While I have been a critic of taking a running back in the first round, I also recognize that some of Harris’s potential struggles could stem from this hastily rebuilt line. That won’t stop others from piling on any rushing issues as Harris’s fault.