Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris came out of the gate strong as a rookie in 2021. Harris finished sixth in the league in rushing yards with 1,200 and chipped in 74 receptions for 467 more yards and scored 10 total touchdowns.
2022 was something of a step back for Harris as he struggled along with the rest of the offense for the first half of the year. But Harris made some changes to his running style at the bye week and came out looking like a new man in the second half of the season.
However, one aspect of Harris’ game that didn’t come back was his receiving. Running backs were completely phased out of the passing game last season and Harris saw his receptions go from 74 all the way down to 41. This cut into his total yards for the season and he finished with 1,269 yards of offense in 2022 after racking up 1,676 in 2021.
This season the Steelers front office has rebuilt the offensive line on the left side and offensive coordinator Matt Canada is on the record that they plan to run the football. This is great except the Steelers now have two very good backs in Harris and Jaylen Warren and we have no idea how much Warren will cut into Harris’ numbers with a full season.
Here are our predictions for Harris this season:
256 carries
1,049 rushing yards
11 rushing touchdowns
54 receptions
320 receiving yards
3 receiving touchdowns
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Story originally appeared on Steelers Wire