We’ve all been there before. For whatever reason, the coach of your favorite team continues to play a guy way more than another guy who is actually better. Like many other fans, you question why. You rack your brain trying to figure out why the more productive player isn’t getting the same opportunities (or more) as the less productive player. It all seems like madness doesn’t it? Fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers can understand this a bit.
While Najee Harris was a decorated first round draft pick out of the machine that is the University of Alabama, his backfield counterpart Jaylen Warren, was an undrafted free agent from Oklahoma State. On paper, it seems all too obvious as to who should be getting the lion’s share of the carries and touches in the Pittsburgh offense. But as some parts of last season and many parts of this current season have shown, Warren is the more dynamic threat of the two. You likely don’t need any statistics to demonstrate why but I wouldn’t want this one to go to waste.
Since the beginning of November, the Steelers are 3-0 when Jaylen Warren gets double-digit carries and 0-3 when he does not. And yet, Najee Harris is getting more snaps and more carries every week.
In that timespan:
Najee 87 carries, 377 yards, 3 TDs (4.3 ypc)
Warren 64 carries, 437 yds, 2 TDs (6.8 ypc)
Even if you take out Warren’s 74-yarder against the Browns, he’s still at 63 carries for 363 yards (5.8 ypc)…so essentially the same amount of yards as Harris on 24 fewer carries.
If we open this up for debate, we can suggest that perhaps Warren’s carries came on downs where running the ball is less expected by the defense. Perhaps defenses aren’t (or weren’t) seeing him as a big threat. Maybe the play calls were more conducive to more yards… We can actually raise any number of questions we want to in regards to this but the stats don’t lie do they?
So let me get to the obvious question. If we can figure this out then what is keeping Mike Tomlin and his staff from seeing this? As far as I’m concerned it comes down to one thing. The Steelers have always been more loyal to guys that they draft higher than those that they don’t. A better way of saying it might be that they tend to give more leeway to their draft selections than they do other guys.
In all honesty I don’t have the answers but what I do know is that Jaylen Warren needs to get more touches, period. The proof is in the numbers.
