Madden Monday: Not buying into the calls for Jaylen Warren to replace Najee Harris as Steelers' 1st-team RB

Steelers running back Jaylen Warren is the flavor of the month in Pittsburgh. After his 62-yard touchdown run in Saturday’s 27-15 preseason win over the Buffalo Bills, you can certainly understand why.

Warren averaged 4.9 yards per carry last year. Meanwhile, starting running back Najee Harris was at 3.8. The second-year product out of Oklahoma State also had a better preseason and training camp. So there is a groundswell from some Steelers fans and media to give Warren more carries.

Maybe even to the point that he has a higher carry share than Harris.

Jaylen Warren is GONE. 62 yards! @Nunless2

: Stream #BUFvsPIT on #NFLPlus https://t.co/L9mPiySUki pic.twitter.com/zqghSm1fBP

— NFL (@NFL) August 19, 2023

In this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Mark Madden of 105.9 The X and TribLIVE disagrees with that assessment.

“I don’t take Jaylen Warren seriously at all — (not) even a little bit,” Madden said. “He’s an undrafted free agent. Najee Harris is a first-round draft pick. That’s how I look at it. If you get three games into the season, and Najee is doing nothing and Warren is breaking off 62-yard runs like he did Saturday, then OK, but not until then. The sample is just too small to even remotely consider what you’re talking about.”

In terms of rushing attempts by running backs and fullbacks, Harris got 70.8% of the workload last year. That was 272 carries. Warren had 20% with 77 carries.

“If it went to 60%-40%, I wouldn’t be angry,” Madden said. “If it went to 60-40, I could see that. But by the same token, if Warren doesn’t prosper to the extent that people imagined he will, I would gradually go back to 70-30 … I’d give 70%-75% to Najee until he proves in real games, he can’t do it, and Warren does better.”

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Madden says pedigree has to come into play to a degree, given Harris’ size (6-foot-1, 242 pounds), and his first-round draft status. After all, the Steelers have to figure out if they are keeping Harris for his fifth-year option after this season.

“I don’t think you give an undrafted free agent (Warren) the No. 1 job over a first-round pick — in just the third year (that) the first-round pick is in the league and with your team,” Madden said. “If Najee comes out in the first two or three games and he (stinks), that’s a different story.”

In this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Madden and I also discuss Kenny Pickett’s strong preseason, Paul Skenes’ first few pro starts, NFL safety topics and the Guns N’ Roses concert.