Breaking down every scenario for Najee Harris's Steelers season

What if Harris has a below-average season for the Steelers?

I’ll dip down the negative path before looking at the positives. Frankly, this wasn’t a hard category to extrapolate, as Harris has produced like a below-average player through his first two seasons. This is, in essence, just a continuation of last year.

Harris maintains the 17 carries a game I projected for him in his average season, but the slight uptick in efficiency isn’t there and instead remains consistent at 3.8 yards per carry. Let me be clear, there is a lot more to a running back than yards per carry, but if you are struggling to get over four, it really is a ding to the player’s ability overall. Harris has yet to do that and continues to lack there in a below-average season.

His rushing scores also dip a little, as he loses some goal-line work to his backups. Harris is a powerful runner, but he doesn’t always hit the hole with full power. Frankly, his short-yardage work has left me wanting more since he entered the league. He continues to struggle there in this case.

The receiving totals also continue to regress. While he wasn’t an electric receiver as a rookie, he was a capable check-down option. He lost a lot of those snaps to Jaylen Warren last year, and that continues this year. Worse yet, he isn’t overly effective when catching passes out of the backfield.

A season like this would indicate two things. The line likely didn’t make the jump many expected, and/or Harris is truly a pedestrian player. Odds are it would be the latter, as this line is built around establishing a physical running game. If Harris can’t have his best season behind this line, we have some issues.