• 9 months ago
The Pittsburgh Steelers now know what running back Najee Harris' fifth-year option looks like.
Transcript
00:00 The way the salary cap increased really makes that much more palatable and you mentioned some
00:04 injuries but now you still played in 17 games. He still rushed for a thousand yards and I thought at
00:10 times he looked even more explosive than he has. I mean especially last year and more than I can
00:15 remember even from his rookie year. So I'm all in on Najee. He is not, I get it, the age and the
00:23 wear and tear on him is a concern but he hasn't really shown signs of slowing down. In fact like
00:29 I said I mean he looked, I forget what the stat is about 20 plus yard runs that he had last season,
00:35 but he was astonishingly like towards the top of that list which you know even at his best,
00:41 even at his you know spryest and healthiest and everything like that like you never think of him
00:46 as a real explosive runner and he really showed that last year. I think he alleviated, like in
00:51 my mind he alleviated a lot of the really big concerns about what his limitations are as a
00:57 running back. So yeah I'm all in on Najee. He's been nothing but productive. He's you know I don't
01:05 think everyone agrees with everything that he says in the locker room but there's definitely
01:09 some leadership qualities there and he cares and he wants to be around and he wants his team to be
01:14 good. So I think there is you know really very little reason why I wouldn't consider bringing
01:20 Najee Harris back. I agree, I agree. I think that it's very likely that the Steelers sign him to a
01:27 fifth year option or pick up his fifth year option. There's really no need like you don't
01:31 want to risk wanting to keep him around for another season and then having to sign him to a one-year
01:36 deal because the running back market stinks but there's still value to it. Like if you sign him
01:42 to one-year deal chances are it's going to be more than 6.79 million dollars. This dude is very
01:47 valuable. He's a first-round pick like he's produced like a first-round pick. There hasn't
01:52 been moments where you've looked at Najee and been like yeah he stinks like no you look at
01:56 Najee Harris and go that's a thousand yard running back that's pretty good. You know he's done
02:01 exactly what you've looked for in a running back. 6.79 is super affordable. I also don't think that
02:07 that really hurts the Steelers salary cap situation as a whole in two years and you just there are
02:14 other questions like is Jalen Warren's 25, 26 years old at this point like he's going on to the
02:20 last year his deal are you gonna sign him to another deal he's gonna be worth I mean he's
02:24 making less than a million dollars a year he's gonna be worth more than that you want to make
02:27 sure that you have a running back at bare minimum. I think Najee's a dude I don't think there's I
02:32 think when you go beyond that that's when it becomes a question. I don't think that Najee's
02:36 a dude that gets a second contract in Pittsburgh. I hope he gets one somewhere but you know just
02:42 the way the running back market works the way he has just he's carried the rock so many times in
02:48 his young career and he's already 27 years old I think it'd be tough for him to get that second deal.

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