All the attention in Pittsburgh this offseason has been at quarterback, but the Steelers are also dealing with their biggest backfield shake-up since James Conner left the team following the 2020 season.
This time around it's Najee Harris, Conner's replacement as a first-round pick in 2021, who has created a void by departing in free agency.
Jaylen Warren, Harris' running mate for the past three seasons, has the utmost confidence he can take on more carries than ever before. He's been fine-tuning his body over the past several months to prove it.
"I approached this offseason differently," Warren recently said, via the team's website. "I did a lot more things for longevity wise, instead of my old-school training like just getting the cleats on and running 30 hills. I had to adapt. This game is about longevity. And like they say, the best ability is availability."
Warren has missed only three career games, although two absences came in 2024, a season that felt undone to a degree by an early hamstring injury Warren needed to ramp back up from even as he took the field. When assessing the 26-year-old's durability, usage must also be factored into the equation.
Harris, now with the Chargers, has been the unquestionable workhorse during Warren's tenure with the team. Since Warren joined the Steelers, Harris has logged 790 carries to Warren's 346.
Warren has been a stellar pass-catching weapon, topping out at 61 catches in 2023 but averaging 298 yards and 42 receptions a year in Pittsburgh. However, he's never eclipsed 150 carries in a season. His career high of 149 two seasons ago amounted to 30.5% of the team's rushing attempts. In 2024, he accounted for 22.5% of Pittsburgh's carries.
Harris, comparatively, took 49.3% of the team's rushing attempts last season, and that marked a career low.
There's a ton of vacated carries to divvy up among the Steelers ball-carriers, which along with Warren include third-round rookie Kaleb Johnson and free-agent signee Kenneth Gainwell.
Johnson fits the Harris mold more than any of Pittsburgh's other backs, and what he lacks in speed he makes up for with a combination of size (6-foot-1, 224 pounds), vision and hitting lanes hard. Gainwell and other depth options figure to be sprinkled in, but this should be Warren and Johnson's backfield, with the exact split yet to be determined.
Warren, just 5-8 but a stocky 215 pounds, is making sure he's capable of handling whatever the Steelers throw his way -- whether that's the lion's share or simply a noticeable uptake in usage.
"No doubt about it," Warren said of being ready to shoulder a larger workload, "and that's the way I'm training."
