PITTSBURGH — Najee Harris was not merely stepped on during Steelers training camp. When the running back went down during practice, Mike Tomlin stated that his foot was stepped on and it was minor. However, on Sunday, Harris revealed that the injury was actually a sprained lisfranc ligament in his foot. The injury knocked Harris out for the better of a month, and he finally returned in a game capacity on Sunday.
“I was rusty a little bit,” Harris said. “I was down for about four weeks. Just to give everybody an update, I didn’t just get my foot stepped on, I had a sprained lisfranc. So, that’s why I was out for the majority of camp.”
Harris had wanted carries for a long time when it came to preseason action. He got his wish. Harris got four carries for 10 yards and caught an additional three passes for 11 yards. He played for two full quarters to shake that rust off. However, Harris was anything but happy with the performance that he put up on Sunday.
“I feel really rusty, and I wasn’t too happy with my performance,” Harris said. “Man, I had a bad read on one run. You know, I had a false start. Then, there was one nice play. But you know, it was the preseason and it was nice to get out there. I’ll go back, watch the film, and get better at it.”
Harris still looked at this opportunity as a big moment for him. Throughout training camp, they told Harris that he was only going to get one day of live hitting in Latrobe. So, Harris felt it was extremely important for himself to get some reps out on the field in the preseason. He got just that. Harris, more importantly, was not comfortable and feeling out of his offensive line.
“I didn’t get feel comfortable or get to feel out of my offensive line,” Harris said. “Man, you know, I just didn’t get to feel how runs were gonna be, like that big hit. So, it’s this type of stuff. It’s on me to feel out and mesh with the offensive line and stuff.”
That was the crux of Harris’ critique of himself. He badly wants to be perfect. Right now, he feels like the injury has set him back. In his absence, guys like Jaylen Warren have stepped up in his absence. Either way, Najee Harris may be a little disappointed in what he saw, but Mike Tomlin was comfortable in what he saw.
“I was comfortable with what I saw, otherwise, I would have left him in the game,” Tomlin said.
Harris will now prepare for week 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals. He has lofty goals and expectations for the season. But more importantly, for Harris is the maturation of his game. He feels like he has been set back on that due to injury. However, maybe he can reclaim some of that over the next two weeks.