While he seems like a great person and a solid running back, the Steelers didn’t get the best value that they could have in the 2021 draft.
Steelers’ nation has found a new face to root for in the form of Najee Harris, and while he has a relatively bright future ahead of him, one has to wonder if he was truly worth a first-round pick. While many will argue yes, considering his role with the team moving forward, it isn’t so clear-cut.
While a fine running back, there are plenty of reasons why he shouldn’t have been taken in the first round of the draft. Here are five reasons the Steelers were wrong to select Harris in the first round of the draft.
Steelers delayed the offensive line rebuild
An argument that is made seemingly on a constant basis, Harris supporters always harken back to how bad the line was this season. To be fair, that is a correct assessment. The Steelers offensive line was pathetic at times, and they certainly didn’t do Harris many favors when he was running the ball. That all said, the fact this line was so bad is a further reason why Harris shouldn’t have been chosen in the first round.
By going running back first, the Steelers missed out on one of the best players in the draft (Creed Humphrey) as well as a slew of other good line prospects. Now, the team still has a plethora of questions along their front five, and they will once again have to overhaul this offseason. This means Harris will be running behind a new line once again next season.
While Harris is a fine running back, the fact that he needs to have a good line to succeed harkens back to the idea that a line is more important than the back. While Harris can create on his own, he will be reliant on a better line to become an elite back. If he needs a line to compete though, the team should have drafted a lineman before a runner. Now, they have some of the same issues this offseason as they had in the last, and Harris will likely have to create on his own once again.
The Steelers running game didn’t improve
This is the simplest argument for why Harris wasn’t worth the first-round pick. All of the last off-season’s narrative was built around this idea that the team would rebuild their rushing attack into a top unit once again. From the ownership down, the demand was for a feared Steelers running game to return. Simply put, that was far from the outcome.
While Harris himself had decent total yards, the offense as a whole failed to run the ball effectively. While Harris posted well over 1000 rushing yards, he and the rest of the team struggled to continually be effective when running. Most of the time those stats came in the second half of the game when the team was already down and the opposing defense was focused on preventing the big play.
Again, defenders of Harris will point to the below-average line as the reasoning for his struggles. That said, Harris’s ability to see a hole and take it wasn’t always there either. Again, this proves that a running back isn’t necessarily the key to a good running game. In the case of the Steelers, it clearly wasn’t, as the offense failed to be effective once again when putting the ball in Harris’s hands.
Steelers Harris didn’t have an elite rookie year
If you were to just look at Harris’s raw stats, one would come away with the idea that the Steelers got an effective rookie and a nearly elite performer from their first-round pick 1200 rushing yards and 1667 total yards along with 10 scores, on paper, is a great year. In fact, they even broke the rookie record previously held by Franco Harris. Just by those numbers alone, Harris had a great year.
When actually digging into the numbers though, these stats point more to an average season than a good one. First off, despite posting decent stats as a whole, the Steelers’ rushing offense was 28th or 29th in the league in most categories. Harris didn’t transform this unit; he just gave the team a workhorse that wouldn’t miss time and could carry a full load.
In terms of Harris breaking the rookie rushing record, while he did in fact beat the 1055 yards that Franco had as a rookie, Harris had to do that with three additional games. If you extrapolated his average rushing yards a game (70.59 rushing yards per game) down to just 14 games, Harris only runs for 988. Naturally, that isn’t how records work in the NFL, but for those parading that he beat Franco’s record, it really wasn’t that big of a deal.
In fact, the only reason that Harris had as successful of a season as he had was because of volume. He touched the ball 381 total times. While that 1667 total yards number looks good, it only averages down to 4.4 total yards per touch. For a reference, James Conner, had he received 381 touches last season with the Steelers, would have had 1753 total yards at his rate.
This isn’t to say that Harris is a bad back. He isn’t, but he didn’t have this elite, game-changing rookie season that you would expect from a first-round running back. His record-breaking ability is relatively muted, and his statistical success is more due to volume than anything else. Don’t be fooled, his first-year stats point much more to an average campaign than an elite one.
Steelers could have drafted elsewhere
The age-old “hindsight is 20/20” comes into play here, but looking at how the draft shook out, taking Harris over some of the other talents seems like a mistake. It was almost like the Steelers didn’t have a plan besides Harris, and when he was available at pick 24 there was no question who was getting selected. This was a major overlook in talent.
For starters, a few secondary members would have been a huge add for the team, especially considering how this unit fizzled over the final stretch of games. Greg Newsome went a few picks later and he developed into a good starter with the Browns. Eric Stokes is in a similar boat with the Packers as is Asante Samuel Jr. with the Chargers. Perhaps the biggest secondary miss was Jevon Holland, as the Dolphins used him all over the defense to great success. It would be nice having him as the future starter for Terrell Edmunds.
There were other areas that this team struggled in that would have been boosted by a different selection. Considering the rash of injuries and the uncertainty at this position going forward, Rondale Moore or Elijah Moore could have been options to play in the slot. The entire off-ball linebacker room was horrible this season. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah could have been a help there.
This doesn’t even begin to mention the offensive linemen that were passed over. While the tackles weren’t great, players like Samuel Cosmi and Liam Eichenberg showed promise as rookies. Meanwhile, the Eagles got a huge upgrade along their interior with Landon Dickerson (he was center capable as well). Easily the biggest miss was Humphrey, as the Steelers passed on the best center in the draft and already one of the best in the league for the opportunity to get Harris.
That leaves us with the running back room as a whole in this draft. It isn’t uncommon for teams to find mid-late round starters in this group, and 2021 was no exception. Had the team boosted their offensive line in the first round, Micheal Carter could have been in play in the second. If the team wanted a power back, Rhamondre Stevenson could have been taken in the third round. The biggest miss was Elijah Mitchell, as he lasted all the way into the sixth round before, he was selected.
The fact of the matter is, there was a slew of talent all over the board that would have better helped this team. While Harris is a fine back, shoe-holing yourself into taking him while not addressing the bigger needs on the team was foolish. Their first-round pick could have been better spent while a different running back could have been added later in the draft.
Will Harris be with the Steelers long term
My final point is, even if Harris becomes a better back and is consistently playing well, where will he be in five years. The reason I ask is that like it or not, this team is set for a major rebuild from here on out. 2022 is already a wash, as this team remaining competitive seems unlikely, and the seasons past that are a real question mark.
Even if Harris becomes a perennial top 10 or top 5 back, is it going to matter for a team that is missing the playoffs each season as they hunt for their next quarterback? Probably not, and in essence, Harris will be having his body broken down for, at best, a Wildcard game in the playoffs. The team’s immediate future isn’t bright and having Harris as the lead back doesn’t really impact that.
For reference, how many games will Harris alone win in 2022? My guess would be in the one to two range, as while having a good running game is helpful, you really only need an efficient one to be successful in the NFL. Harris being a top threat on the ground won’t fix the defensive issues of offensive turnover the Steelers are set to have. He may shine, but he will be shining on a bad team.
My best-case scenario for this team is to rebuild in about one season. 2022 will be a wash while 2023 could (big emphasis on could) be back in the playoff picture. The safer bet though is probably 2024 though, as this team has a lot of holes that need to be filled. At that point, Harris will have another 600-800 touches under his belt and will have one more year and a fifth-year option left on his contract. I can’t see him getting a second deal with the team, so what will the point have been.
Harris is a fine player and good back in the NFL, but the fact of the matter is, a good back isn’t worth a first-round pick anymore. The Steelers were in no place to take a first-round back in the last offseason, and the move may come back to haunt the team moving forward. Harris is a good player, but the position he plays makes it hard to justify the Steelers having selected him in the first round of the previous draft.