Steelers: Najee Harris continues to be doubted nationally
Despite an excellent start to his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the discourse around Najee Harris continues to ensue. A back-to-back 1000-yard rusher, the 25-year-old is approaching his third year in the league and has yet to miss a game. But for some reason, pundits in the media think he isn't exactly what the Steelers […]
Despite an excellent start to his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the discourse around Najee Harris continues to ensue.
A back-to-back 1000-yard rusher, the 25-year-old is approaching his third year in the league and has yet to miss a game.
But for some reason, pundits in the media think he isn't exactly what the Steelers need, with the latest prediction sure to make you shake your head:
Following the release of Dalvin Cook later today, the four-time Pro Bowler will be free to sign with whomever he chooses. And while it's unlikely that Cook and the Steelers even entertain each other, Joy Taylor of Fox Sports had other ideas during Speak On FS1 yesterday:
"I think he would be very interesting with the Steelers," said Taylor on potential landing spots for Dalvin Cook. "When I think of the Steelers' offensive identity, they always have fast big wide receivers, and they have a solid run game."
"Now they have Najee Harris but like Shady (former two-time S.B Champ and All-Pro RB LeSean McCoy) said, it's a two-back system pretty much anywhere you go now. They don't want to wear somebody down. And if you have a creative offensive coordinator, you can really utilize a guy like Dalvin Cook who can blast off. So having a young quarterback with a solid run game like that will be very interesting and obviously, that's what the Steelers like to do."
Well, I'm not quite sure where to begin on this statement. For one, the Steelers have always been a lead back team, never sub coming to the idea of using backs in a rotational manner unless the workhorse was out with injury.
For reference, Steelers backup running back Jaylen Warren had his highest snap share of the season in week five at 51%. That Pales in comparison to Najee Harris who played over 60% of the offensive snaps in 13 or more games, including 92% in week 11.
Meaning despite the conjecture, he's clearly RB#1 in Pittsburgh.
This leads to my second reason why bringing Cook to Pittsburgh would be problematic. Although still spry at only 27 and coming off his fourth consecutive 1000-yard season, Cook is nearly three years older than Najee, with a more extensive injury history.
There's also the fact that as good as Cook has been, he's just not the Steeler's type. Listed at 5'10" and a little over 200 pounds, his body type and running style are a stark contrast to Najee's frame, (6'1" 230+) with Cook best situated in a wide zone attack, contradicting the Steeler's in-between-the-tackles approach.
So while I'm all in on the team-building philosophy of acquiring as much offensive firepower as possible, this fit would be analogous to trying to jam a square peg into a round hole.
Featured image via: © Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports
