Najee Harris Is October Rookie of The Month & Current Rookie Rushing Leader, But Apparently It's Time To Ask: Is He Even Good???
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Oh brother. Talk about a reach. Absolutely HATE these kind of people. You know - the people who want to say outlandish things and give out of context backing to make themselves look smart.
This is like PFT squatting on a take - feels like Forbes just wanted to get ahead of this to try to be "the first" on it if it were to happen. I could understand maybe, maaaaybe saying he's been a bit underwhelming I guess? But to straight up ask if he's "even good"? Just stop. For starters, he's right on par with Le'Veon Bell's first 8 games in the NFL:
Whoops! Check that - they're actually even better. Also, it's comparing apples and oranges with the situations surrounding the two players. Lev Bell was playing with prime Big Ben, prime Antonio Brown, a borderline HOF center in Maurkice Pouncey, 1st round pro bowler David DeCastro, and all together a top-5 offensive line in the league at the time.
Najee Harris is playing with 39-year-old Big Ben on mostly a hope and a prayer, and an offensive line comprised of two rookie third and fourth round picks at the two most important positions on the line. So the Bell vs. Najee comparison is a load of crap all together. "Mistaking volume for production" I mean yeah - you typically want to give the ball to your best players. He's the straw that stirs the drink for the offense, and giving him a heavy load is something Coach T likes and has wanted. Plus, he's bearing the load out of necessity. Throwing the ball 35+ times has been proven down the stretch last year and the 1-3 start this year that it's not a winning formula with the current state of Big Ben. Add in that teams now know that, know that the offensive line is young and is still gelling equals Najee getting a whole lot of production and him having to make plays like this to be positive:
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The Steelers started the season 1-3. Here's what Najee's stat lines looked like in the first four:
Buffalo: 16 carries, 45 yards
LV: 10 carries, 38 yards, 1 rec TD
Cincy: 14 carries, 40 yards
GB: 15 carries, 62 yards, 1 TD
Now the Steelers have won their last four games to sit at 5-3. Here's Najee's stat lines during the last four:
Denver: 23 carries, 122 yards, 1 TD
Seattle: 24 carries, 81 yards, 1 rec TD
Cleveland: 26 carries, 91 yards, 1 TD
Chicago: 22 carries, 62 yards, 1 TD
It's almost like he along with the offensive line can…steadily improve through a season when they're all playing together for the first time??? What a novice concept. Oh and I'm sure the improvement in his work load and numbers has nothing to do with the Steelers four game win streak.
Time to stop questioning Najee Harris and maybe put these kind of questions to a guy like Saquon Barkley - if you remembered that he's still even playing football.