Deadline looms for Steelers to pick up 5th-year option on RB Najee Harris

Najee Harris has been an example of durability and consistency in his three seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Soon, the 26-year-old running back will learn whether he will be part of the organization in 2025 or become a free agent at the end of this season.

The Steelers have until Thursday to decide whether to exercise the fifth-year option on Harris’ contract that will ensure him a $6.97 million salary for the 2025 season.

By exercising Harris’ option, the Steelers not only will guarantee that salary, they will guarantee his $2.439 million for this season as well.

The Steelers are not expected to exercise the fifth-year option of quarterback Justin Fields, whom they acquired in March from the Chicago Bears. Fields is due to make $25.644 million in 2025 if the Steelers exercise the option.

The option is for all players selected in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. Harris was the No. 24 overall selection in that class. Fields was the No. 11 overall pick of the Bears that year.

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Before the calendar flipped to May, 17 first-round picks from that draft class had their options either exercised or signed long-term contracts.

Two years ago, the Steelers waited until the day of the deadline before electing not to exercise linebacker Devin Bush’s fifth-year option worth $10.892 million. The Steelers did not have to make that decision a year ago because they did not have a first-round draft pick in 2020 after the trade for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.

Harris never has missed a game in his three seasons with the Steelers, making 51 consecutive starts. He has accumulated three consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons, although he has benefited from the extra game in the 17-game season to reach 1,000 yards in the past two seasons.

“Najee has been consistent since he’s been with us,” coach Mike Tomlin said in March at the NFL annual meeting. “I think I saw a statistic about his three 1,000-yard seasons, being in rare company, and I just think that illustrates how he’s been for us.”

Last season, Harris became the first player in franchise history to rush for 1,000 yards in each of his first three NFL seasons. He is the only NFL running back to do it the past three years and the first to open his career with three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons since Washington’s Alfred Morris from 2012-14.

As a rookie, Harris led the NFL with 381 touches. The Steelers then took steps toward scaling back his workload by utilizing Jaylen Warren as a complementary back. Harris’ touches were reduced to 313 in 2022, which ranked sixth in the NFL. Last season, his touches decreased to 284, good for ninth in the league.

Among players with fifth-year options, Harris had the second-lowest figure. Only running back Travis Etienne, the No. 25 overall pick in 2021, had a lower amount at $6.143 million. Jacksonville exercised Etienne’s option earlier in the week.

The last Steelers first-round pick to have his fifth-year option exercised was outside linebacker T.J. Watt. The Steelers also picked up the fifth-year option of Fitzpatrick, who was drafted in the first round by Miami in 2018. Each of those players eventually signed long-term contracts with the Steelers.

Since the fifth-year option became a part of the collective bargaining agreement in 2011, the Steelers have declined it with four of their draft picks: Jarvis Jones (2013), Artie Burns (2016), Terrell Edmunds (2018) and Bush (2019).