Harris: 'I was disappointed for a minute' after Steelers declined 5th year
Najee Harris admitted he was frustrated after the Pittsburgh Steelers declined his fifth-year rookie option in May, but the 26-year-old running back said it didn't bother him for long.
"I was disappointed for a minute, but, I mean, it's nothing really where me sitting around being disappointed for too long will do anything to help me out," Harris said Wednesday, according to Brooke Pryor of ESPN. "It is what it is, and you just got to keep it pushing and knowing that coming out here and doing what's best for the team and having a good year is what's most important right now."
Harris, whom Pittsburgh selected 24th overall in 2021, is set to become a free agent at the end of the 2024 season. He's rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of his three NFL campaigns while scoring 28 total touchdowns. However, the former Alabama star has averaged only 3.9 yards per rushing attempt since entering the league.
Harris leads the NFL with 978 touches over the last three years, though he had a career-low 284 in 2023 while playing just 53% of the Steelers' offensive snaps.
Starting running backs had a lucrative offseason, with Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry, and Josh Jacobs inking multi-year contracts in free agency. Harris still isn't pleased with the state of the market at the position, though.
"They're only devalued when it's time to pay," he said. "I mean, obviously they're not devalued, though. If you look around. Me sitting here saying that I'm a devalued position where there's games where I literally carry the offense, giving me the ball, so it's not really devalued. They just, when it's time to pay you, and I think that's when they want to devalue the position, which it is what it is."
Harris' trainer, Josh Scott, said in May that the tailback was "motivated" and had lost weight ahead of the new season.
Declining Harris' fifth-year option was one of many significant decisions made by the Steelers on and off the field this year. Pittsburgh - which hired Arthur Smith as its new offensive coordinator - also signed Russell Wilson, acquired Justin Fields, and traded away Kenny Pickett to revamp the team's quarterback room.