Re-examined: Who the Steelers might have selected in the 2021 NFL Draft in lieu of struggling running back Najee Harris

Re-examined: Who the Steelers might have selected in the 2021 NFL Draft in lieu of struggling running back Najee Harris

Although the Steelers have had a difficult start to the 2023 season, head coach Mike Tomlin acknowledges that Pittsburgh has an offensive crisis and isn’t prepared to make “wholesale changes”.

Following Monday Night Football, when the Steelers defeated the Browns 26–22, head coach Mike Tomlin said that his team needed to find its “mojo again.” After the first-team offense of Pittsburgh scored five touchdowns on five possessions during the preseason, the offensive has scored twice as many touchdowns as the defense through two regular-season games.

“We need to rediscover the magic we had throughout the preseason, when we were confidently and quickly playing both as a team and as individuals. To put it bluntly, we haven’t had that in a few weeks,” Tomlin stated. “We’re not getting the type of fluidity that we want in our starts … not being in advantageous down circumstances, really making it challenging to sustain drives and score points.”

Although there are many to blame, including offensive coordinator Matt Canada and quarterback Kenny Pickett, the Steelers’ inability to move the ball is largely due to their ineffective rushing approach.

Najee Harris hasn’t been productive, despite his impressive potential when he was selected for the Pro Bowl as a rookie. In addition to several running backs, he trails quarterbacks such as Taysom Hill (79), Patrick Mahomes (75), Anthony Richardson (75), Daniel Jones (102) and Lamar Jackson (92). He now has 74 rushing yards. Harris is only averaging 2.1 yards per carry when his longest runs from each game—21 and 24 yards—are taken out of the equation.

It’s hard for Steelers fans to ignore the “What if?” question regarding the 2021 NFL Draft given Harris’s struggles and the overall sharp fall in running back value. If the front office passed on Harris, who would have ended up in Pittsburgh?

In the 2021 NFL Draft, Harris was selected by the Steelers with the 24th overall pick. The first running back selected at the tournament was Harris, who finished as a senior at Alabama with 1,466 rushing yards and 26 rushing touchdowns.