Jaylen Warren goes from undrafted rookie to Steelers’ perfect Najee Harris complement

Last year at this time, some followers of the Pittsburgh Steelers wanted them to draft a complement for Najee Harris.

Others were eager to see if they would find a No. 2 running back in free agency. Still others believed the answer to supporting Harris was already in house with Anthony McFarland or Benny Snell.

Few could have believed an ideal RB2 fell into the Steelers’ lap via undrafted free agency.

While all interested parties knew the NFL-leading 381 touches Harris undertook as a rookie in 2021 was unsustainable, no one knew the solution to lightening Harris’ workload would come by way of a player who had played in just three games for Utah State in the season that ended 16 months before his acquisition by the Steelers.

“That was something that they talked about, bringing somebody in,” Harris said earlier this month. “I didn’t know if it was gonna be a veteran guy or somebody they draft or undrafted.

“But Jaylen (Warren) came in and he actually, he has a role now, too. He’s doing a really good job of embracing that. He’s doing a real good job of taking opportunities and making the most of it, which creates more value for him. He’s doing a great job of creating value for himself, not only to help me out.”

“It makes it easier when you just trust your teammates, practice with them all year,” Jaylen Warren said, “and then you get on the field it is nothing different from practice. So, I’m just doing what we practice; that’s what I kind of stick to.”https://t.co/3oJpiTnvp5

— Tribune-Review Sports (@TribSports) October 10, 2022

Forget their draft picks — Warren wasn’t even the highest-profile of the undrafted rookies the Steelers brought in. According to data from spotrac.com, the $12,000 signing bonus Warren received for joining the Steelers in the hours after the 2022 draft ended wasn’t even the most the team paid to a player at Warren’s position to entice him to sign (Mataeo Durant was signed for a $15,000 bonus).

That all made Warren’s emergence as among the NFL’s more productive rookie running backs all the more improbable. Warren had 593 yards from scrimmage (379 rushing, 214 receiving) despite not topping 51% of Steelers’ offensive snaps played in any of his 16 games played.

Not bad for a guy who was so lightly recruited coming out of high school that he began at a junior college, then transferred to Utah State before ending up at Oklahoma State as a senior in 2021. And despite scaling the OSU depth chart from fourth- or fifth-string when the season began to a 1,216-yard rusher by the time it ended, Warren had little buzz around him for the NFL Draft.

Jaylen Warren is a happy man -he’s a rostered NFL player
(with a sweet tshirt too) pic.twitter.com/NyKWEIKHfw

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) August 31, 2022

“It was crazy,” Warren said of his 2022. “I came in (to Pittsburgh), my goal was just to make the 53-man. I didn’t plan on being like a huge contributor to the team. I just planned on playing my role.

“The way it panned out, I am not complaining at all. It was fun playing with these boys. I hope they keep me in the future.”

It’s fair to say the Steelers will after watching Warren average 4.9 yards per carry and 7.6 yards per reception as a rookie. The 5-foot-8, 215-pound Warren opened the eyes of observers at Steelers training camp — including coach Mike Tomlin, who frequently was heard complimenting him — by way of a quick-accelerating, not-afraid-of-contact style.

Consider that of the five longest carries by a Steelers running back in 2022, only one was by Harris. The other four (runs of 31, 23, 22 and 21 yards) were from Warren. Warren also had the Steelers’ longest-gaining reception by a Steelers running back.

Warren was awarded the full-time third-down back role, and as the season went on, coaches showed their trust in him by deploying him for entire offensive series — even, at times, during late-game situations when the game was on the line or on short-yardage plays.

More often than not, Warren came through. Just don’t expect him to be content on the heels of such an unexpected rise to prominence.

“To be honest, people have been telling me how great of a rookie year I had, but I don’t look at it (that way),” Warren said. “Partially, I don’t feel like I did anything. I just feel like I did my part for us. But the main goal is to win.”

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