Najee Harris Is Excited by Revamped QB Room: ‘We Did Good This Offseason’
It’s been quiet on running back Najee Harris’ end since the Pittsburgh Steelers declined his fifth-year option in early May. He declined interview requests with the Pittsburgh media at OTAs and minicamp, but said he’ll speak at training camp.
Mike Tomlin and Omar Khan both said the move was a business decision.
Harris, who was at the Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal boxing fight on Saturday night, conducted an interview during the fight with FANMIO. Harris didn’t say much, but he revealed that it’s been a good offseason, and is encouraged by the new quarterbacks.
“Feeling good man. We did good this offseason. Obviously we picked up our two quarterbacks so we are excited about it. We think we’re gonna have a lot of good things happening this year,” Harris said.
Najee Harris on the Steelers and this upcoming season:
"Feeling good man. We did good this offseason. Obviously we picked up our two quarterbacks so we are excited about it. We think we're gonna have a lot of good things happening this year."#steelers
🎥YT/ TheDaznboxing pic.twitter.com/Q263hqfosz
— Matthew Luciow (@matthewluciow92) July 9, 2024
The Steelers turned down the fifth-year option that would have paid Harris $6.7 million in 2025. Instead, he is now set to become an unrestricted free agent next March.
Harris became the first player in Steelers history to run for 1,000 or more yards in each of the first three seasons of his career. In 2023, Harris had the best season of his career in terms of yards per carry as he rushed 255 times for 1,035 yards — a 4.1 yards per carry average — and he scored eight touchdowns. Harris had rushed for 3.9 and 3.8 yards per carry in each of his first two seasons.
Najee Harris has just continued to put his head down and work. A holdout of any kind has not been considered.
Tomlin said at OTAs that the decision was more about the business side of things and the positional value of the running back position than being unhappy with Harris as a player.
“It could reflect a lot of things, but there’s probably some depth to those waters,” Tomlin said. “Sometimes, it’s position-related, and things of that nature. There’s a business component of this and of all decisions that we make. There’s layers to it. I’m not going to try to characterize it in simplicity. That would probably be inappropriate.”