I like the look of Najee Harris. With how the Steelers are going to use him, I think he’s going to be the best of the rookies.
If you want to get into careers or the rest of the decade, maybe that can be debated. Trevor Lawrence might have a bunch of top-5 seasons at quarterback. Kyle Pitts looks like he might be a Waller-Kelce type tight end for a long time.
But just looking at 2021 (or for the next 2-3 years), Harris looks like the guy.
He’s landed in a good spot. Mike Tomlin more than any other coach likes to just stick with one back and run them into the ground. Harris will be used extensively. (I realize the Steelers have had a suck run games in recent years – last in rushing since 2018 – but they’re working on it, with a new coordinator and extensive offensive line changes.)
Harris not only runs, he’s also a capable receiver, with 70 catches over the last two years.
If we stack up all of the notable Alabama running backs of the Nick Saban era, Harris last year put up the best numbers of all of them. Using PPR scoring, anyway. Derrick Henry fan for a lot more yards back in 2015, but Harris is a much better pass catcher.
There are no givens in this game, of course. If you go back and look at the highlight tapes from 2011, you would conclude that Trent Richardson was going to have a long, great career. (Richardson was very productive, and he was also a lot faster.)
But Harris, I think, looks really good. Running back is a lean position right now, so I’m thinking he’ll probably finish with top-10 numbers this season.
| ALABAMA RUNNING BACKS DRAFTED IN FIRST THREE ROUNDS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Year | G | Att | Yards | Avg | TD | Receiving | PPR |
| N.Harris | 2020 | 13 | 251 | 1,466 | 5.8 | 26 | 43-425-4 | 412.1 |
| Henry | 2015 | 15 | 395 | 2,219 | 5.6 | 28 | 11-91-0 | 410.0 |
| Richardson | 2011 | 13 | 283 | 1,679 | 5.9 | 21 | 29-338-3 | 374.7 |
| Ingram | 2009 | 14 | 271 | 1,658 | 6.1 | 17 | 32-334-3 | 351.2 |
| N.Harris | 2019 | 13 | 209 | 1,224 | 5.9 | 13 | 27-304-7 | 299.8 |
| Lacy | 2012 | 14 | 204 | 1,322 | 6.5 | 17 | 22-189-2 | 287.1 |
| Yeldon | 2013 | 12 | 207 | 1,235 | 6.0 | 14 | 20-183-0 | 245.8 |
| Ingram | 2010 | 11 | 158 | 875 | 5.5 | 13 | 21-282-1 | 220.7 |
| Yeldon | 2012 | 14 | 175 | 1,108 | 6.3 | 12 | 11-131-1 | 212.9 |
| Yeldon | 2014 | 13 | 194 | 979 | 5.0 | 11 | 15-180-1 | 202.9 |
| Henry | 2014 | 14 | 172 | 990 | 5.8 | 11 | 5-133-2 | 195.3 |
| Jacobs | 2018 | 15 | 120 | 640 | 5.3 | 11 | 20-247-3 | 192.7 |
| D.Harris | 2017 | 14 | 135 | 1,000 | 7.4 | 11 | 12-91-0 | 187.1 |
| D.Harris | 2018 | 15 | 150 | 876 | 5.8 | 9 | 22-204-0 | 184.0 |
| Richardson | 2010 | 11 | 112 | 700 | 6.3 | 6 | 23-266-4 | 179.6 |
| Ingram | 2008 | 14 | 143 | 728 | 5.1 | 12 | 7-54-0 | 157.2 |
| Richardson | 2009 | 14 | 145 | 751 | 5.2 | 8 | 16-126-0 | 151.7 |
| D.Harris | 2016 | 15 | 146 | 1,037 | 7.1 | 2 | 14-99-2 | 151.6 |
| Drake | 2013 | 11 | 92 | 694 | 7.5 | 8 | 12-135-1 | 148.9 |
| Lacy | 2011 | 12 | 95 | 674 | 7.1 | 7 | 11-131-0 | 133.5 |
| Jacobs | 2016 | 14 | 85 | 567 | 6.7 | 4 | 14-156-0 | 110.3 |
| Drake | 2015 | 13 | 77 | 408 | 5.3 | 1 | 29-276-1 | 109.4 |
| N.Harris | 2018 | 15 | 117 | 783 | 6.7 | 4 | 4-7-0 | 107.0 |
| Lacy | 2010 | 12 | 56 | 406 | 7.3 | 6 | 2-18-0 | 80.4 |
| Jacobs | 2017 | 11 | 46 | 284 | 6.2 | 1 | 14-168-2 | 77.2 |
| Henry | 2013 | 10 | 35 | 382 | 10.9 | 3 | 1-61-1 | 69.3 |
| Drake | 2014 | 5 | 22 | 112 | 5.1 | 4 | 5-159-2 | 68.1 |
| N.Harris | 2017 | 10 | 61 | 370 | 6.1 | 3 | 6-45-0 | 65.5 |
| Drake | 2012 | 12 | 42 | 281 | 6.7 | 5 | 0-0-0 | 58.1 |
| D.Harris | 2015 | 10 | 46 | 157 | 3.4 | 1 | 4-13-0 | 27.0 |
—Ian Allan