Najee Harris saw the Pittsburgh Steelers go through an offensive makeover — and not a good one — during his four seasons with the franchise.
Harris, a first-round pick in 2021, joined the Steelers as Ben Roethlisberger went through his final NFL season. Once Roethlisberger retired, a wave of mediocre quarterbacks took over behind center for Pittsburgh, including Mitchell Trubisky, Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph, Russell Wilson and Justin Fields.
Pittsburgh’s offense declined significantly with most of those signal-callers despite Harris putting up four straight 1,000-yard rushing seasons and 28 touchdowns.
It’s clear Harris, who decided to leave the Steelers this offseason as he signed a one-year deal worth up to $9.25 million with the Los Angeles Chargers, was frustrated with his tenure in Pittsburgh and aired out his grievances Thursday.
“It was just a team where we lost Ben. We lost a lot of O-line,” Harris told KCAL, via video from Matthew Luciow, as transcribed by Pro Football Talk. “We just didn’t know anything on offense, really. We didn’t have any identity. We had a young guy coming in at quarterback. I was young. The team was young. I really didn’t have nobody to almost learn from on the offensive side. I think the veteran guy on that team was like a two-, three-year vet. He’s still learning himself.
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“I’m coming in, and I’m just trying to look for people to pick their brain, and it was just defensive guys. I’d go to the defensive guys and talk to them, but there wouldn’t be too much they could tell me about an offensive thing. Through my years, I learned a lot that I only learned firsthand. I feel like here we’ve got a lot of veterans (with the Chargers) I can learn even more stuff from, even at the quarterback position and the O-line position.”
Harris’ comments certainly will add plenty of spice when the Chargers host the Pittsburgh Steelers during the 2025 season.
Featured image via Tommy Gilligan/Imagn Images