Saunders: A Lot Doesn’t Add Up about Najee Harris’ Injury

PITTSBURGH — Najee Harris will likely play in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ second game of the 2022 season, as he practiced again on Friday and the team has officially listed without an injury status, expected to start against the New England Patriots at Acrisure Stadium this Sunday.

That’s great news for Harris, who seemed determined to play when he spoke earlier this week, and for the Steelers, which certainly don’t need to deal with a critical absence while attempting to resuscitate their offense after a mediocre first outing.

But something doesn’t add up about the Harris injury saga, and it doesn’t seem likely that it’s over, either.

Harris was first injured during the Steelers’ training camp practice at St. Vincent College on Aug. 1. Head coach Mike Tomlin, addressing the media that afternoon, said that Harris got his foot stepped on.

Harris missed two weeks of practice before returning to action on Aug. 15. He practiced the rest of that week, but still didn’t play in the second preseason game on Aug. 20. It wasn’t until the Steelers faced the Detroit Lions on Aug. 28 that Harris really tested that foot, four weeks later.

After that game, Harris revealed that he had dealt with a Lisfranc sprain in his foot. He didn’t look great against the Lions, but it was first game back from a long layoff, so that was to be expected.

Ahead of the season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, Tomlin said that Harris’ injury was “in the rear-view mirror.”

Against Cincinnati, Harris had the second-worst rushing day of his career, averaging 2.3 yards per carry. The only game that was worse was against the Tennessee Titans last season. NFL analyst Brian Baldinger said Harris “looks terrible right now” and that he “can’t move.” Rookie undrafted free agent Jaylen Warren had just as much success as Harris did, also averaging 2.3 yards per carry against the Bengals.

The great @BaldyNFL on @937theFan on what he saw from Najee Harris on tape before injury: "He looks terrible right now. He can't move. He can't cut…Jaylen Warren is a much better blocker right now. I have major concerns about Najee"

— Andrew Fillipponi (@ThePoniExpress) September 12, 2022

Harris then suffered another left foot injury late in the game. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that the injury was related to the Lisfranc sprain that Harris suffered in training camp on Monday.

On Tuesday, Tomlin refuted that, then said he couldn’t remember which foot Harris had injured.

Harris managed to speak Wednesday without contradicting Tomlin, but how are we to believe that the Steelers’ running back is truly healthy after what has transpired over the last six weeks?

Tomlin is under no obligation to anyone other than the NFL rulebook to be open and forthcoming about injury statuses. With so much of Harris’ first issue happening in the preseason and training camp, when there basically are no such rules, he certainly didn’t break any league edicts so far, even if he was lying about the severity of Harris’ injury in early August.

But that won’t be the case going forward. It’s unclear why Tomlin felt this was a time he couldn’t be honest about what was happening with one of his players. But that uncertainly is not going to make anyone feel bette about Harris’ status for this week until he takes to the playing surface at Acrisure Stadium, regardless of what else has been announced.