The Pittsburgh Steelers need to replace RB Najee Harris, and one beat writer believes they must find a similar player. Similar, of course, but not the same. Though they drafted Harris in the first round in 2021, four years later, they let him walk away. That tells you they weren’t fully happy with what he offered, so what do they learn from that?

You certainly can’t argue that they haven’t done their homework. The Steelers brought in nine running backs for pre-draft visits, some of whom have some similarities to Najee Harris. You don’t want to be too similar, though, and mirror his undesirable career yards-per-carry average.

“I think that they have to address running back first, because you can’t go into the season with Kenneth Gainwell and Jaylen Warren as the running back room”, Steelers reporter Brooke Pryor said yesterday on 93.7 The Fan. “I think that you need a guy that is kind of built like a Najee Harris but gets more yards per carry. That’s what this group is missing right now, and I think that there’s a lot of value in drafting a guy high”.

Now, “that high” in this case means the third round, since they don’t have a second-round pick. And after the Steelers used a first-round pick on Najee Harris not long ago, not many people want to see them repeat that. Perhaps only Ashton Jeanty, if available, would meet with much public approval, though he isn’t the only candidate.

And he also isn’t exactly the spitting image of Najee Harris. Indeed, the Steelers looked at a lot of running backs who are unlike Harris, which is worth discussing. One common, though not universal, theme among the Steelers’ running back targets: speed. They took a close look at a lot of guys who have the get-up-and-go that they have been missing for many years. And they will have plenty of such players available in the third and fourth rounds.

Over four seasons with the Steelers, Najee Harris rushed for 4,312 yards. But he only managed 3.9 yards per carry, with a 46.4-percent success rate. With 4.3 yards per touch for his career with 34 total touchdowns, he offered some production, but not efficiency.

Last season, Harris rushed for 1,043 yards on 263 attempts and a career-low six touchdowns. While he barely managed a (rounded) 4.0 yards per carry, he posted a career-low 43.7-percent success rate. Prior to the season, the Steelers declined to pick up his fifth-year option.

Throughout his Steelers career, Harris never rushed for more than 1,200 yards or 4.1 yards per carry. He never rushed for more than eight touchdowns, yet he had a certain consistency about him. Harris was almost always available, and rarely an easy tackle. A lot of the blame for his inefficiency belongs to bad schemes and offensive lines. But there’s a reason he signed a one-year contract full of incentives in free agency.