Jerome Bettis on Steelers rookie Najee Harris: Get him some help and ‘he can be much better than me’

Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis has already witnessed one All-Pro fill his cleats at that position.

That was Le’Veon Bell. Willie Parker and James Conner made the Pro Bowl as a running back wearing the Black and Gold as well.

But “The Bus” sees something really special in Najee Harris, the current guy holding the designation of Steelers “bell cow” running back.

During an appearance on 93.7 The Fan Monday, Bettis said he could tell Harris was going to be special while watching him in the SEC.

“I watched him out of college,” Bettis said. “I watched him his freshman year at Alabama. I’m a big fan of his. The sky is the limit for him.”

Bettis spoke during his “Bus Stops Here Foundation & Butler Health System Celebrity Golf Outing.” He went so far as to say that Harris may surpass his legacy with the Steelers.

“I see a special football player,” Bettis continued. “He can be much better than me. I was more one-dimensional where he is multi-dimensional … He can block. He can run. He can catch it. He can do it all. He has a chance to be really special.”

Bettis retired after 10,571 rushing yards as a Steeler, second in franchise history behind only Franco Harris’ 11,950. But Bettis only had 806 career receiving yards while with the Steelers. Harris already has 198. Bell has the most receiving yards of any Steelers running back at 2,660 — good for 21st all-time in Steelers history.

As Bettis points out, though, Harris needs some help from the rest of the offense.

“The key is you need an offensive line that can go out there and get the job done,” Bettis said. “You need a quarterback that can help keep the eighth man out of the box. You need some help. It looked like last week he was getting that help he needs.”

Indeed. The help translated into 122 yards rushing on 23 carries Sunday en route to beating the Denver Broncos 27-19. Bettis had lots of help over the years with blockers such as Alan Faneca, Dermontti Dawson, Dan Kreider, Tim Lester, Mark Bruener and Heath Miller clearing his path.

And by the end of his career, Bettis had Ben Roethlisberger as the quarterback to back defenders out of the box. Roethlisberger is still the quarterback for Harris. But now opposing defenders stack the box to take away Roethlisberger’s short passing game as much as they do it to stop Harris.

“He can still make all the throws, you just can’t ask him to carry the team at this time in his career,” Bettis said of Roethlisberger. “If you ask Ben to throw the ball 45 times a game, you are asking for an average Ben Roethlisberger. If you ask him to throw the ball 25-27 times a game, now you are going to get a special football player.”

That was the case Sunday as Roethlisberger went 15 of 25 for 253 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. His passer rating of 120.9 and his average of 10.1 yards per attempt were season bests.

“He can still spin it with the best of them,” Bettis said. “If you give him some time, you give him a running back, then you get the best of Ben.”