Najee Harris Will Have 1,400 Total Yards, Change My Mind

There are just a couple of weeks separating us from the kickoff of the 2021 season and we have already lost a stud first-round running back. Jacksonville Jaguars RB Travis Etienne suffered a Lisfranc injury in Week 2 of the preseason that will require surgery causing him to miss his entire rookie season. The other RB selected in the first round, Najee Harris, appears to be on track to take over as the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ workhorse.

Harris has seen his average draft position (ADP) climb from the bottom of the second round to the middle of the second round as we near the start of the regular season. It has become clear that the Steelers are going to utilize the rookie in an every-down role. He had an impressive week in his third preseason game with the first-team offense by hauling in two Ben Roethlisberger dump-off passes for 53-yards.

Najee has been heralded as a dual-threat RB despite his bigger build and we got a glimpse of that in action. But what is a realistic projection for the former Alabama stud?

In 2013, head coach Mike Tomlin and the Steelers selected Le’Veon Bell in the second round of the draft. They immediately threw him into an every-down role when he was healthy. He finished the season with 860 yards on the ground and 399 yards through the air for a total of 1,259 yards. Not bad for a rookie. The most impressive thing about that total is that Bell only played in 13 games.

If Najee is able to play a full 17 games, then we should be projecting 1,300 total yards as his floor. This is of course a big if. As mentioned above we have already seen a rookie RB go down. Najee is a massive 6-1, 232 pounds though. He is built to handle a lot of carries fresh off back-to-back 200-plus touch seasons for the Crimson Tide.

1,500-1,700 total yards is not out of the question for the Steelers’ newest workhorse. He can currently be had as an RB2 in Redraft by going RB/RB or a solid RB1 mixed with a top-tier player at another position by going TE/RB or WR/RB. Take advantage of his current ADP.

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