6 Steelers who have major questions to answer in Week 1 vs. Bills

Steelers Running Back Najee Harris

One of the biggest downfalls for the Steelers last season was their pitiful rushing attack. Week in and week out, the team couldn’t get their ground game going, and as a result, it became a passing-only type of offense.

The team drafted Najee Harris in the first round of the draft to change that.

While he has looked good in training camp and in the preseason, he needs to be able to produce against a starting defense in the NFL. His offensive line certainly won’t help him out, but as a first-round running back, he has to be able to overcome that. If the Steelers believed they needed a better line to run the ball, that should have been their first-round pick.

Instead, Harris has to show that he can make plays on his own.

No, this doesn’t mean he needs an obscene yards-per-carry number, but he has to push the pile forward, make some people miss, and pick up the hard yards when needed.

While Harris appears to have the talent to succeed in that role, he has to prove that he is talented enough as a runner to succeed despite a mediocre line. While Week 1 won’t make or break him, if he continues to struggle to produce on his own, it will certainly call his first-round draft status into question.

Again, he doesn’t need to go off, but he needs to be efficient and pick up tough yards when needed. If he can’t do that, questions will swell up as to why the team took him as early as they did.

While the first game of the year doesn’t define a season, the Steelers will need to put up a good showing to silence some critics. These six players in particular need to answer some personal questions about their play when the team faces the Bills in Week 1.

Doing so will help set the narrative for the 2021 season.