Steelers RB Jaylen Warren enters camp with new role

Three summers ago on the final day of August, Jaylen Warren couldn’t stop smiling. Giddy as a schoolboy on the first day of summer vacation, Warren was ecstatic that he had survived the final cutdown day in advance of the 2022 regular season.

This summer, in regards to his NFL life, Warren is no longer a kid. He’s still smiling, though, and still feels blessed to earn his living in pro football. But Warren is no longer that unknown undrafted rookie who had one of the temporary locker stalls at the Pittsburgh Steelers facility.

With the 2025 training camp opening this week at Saint Vincent, only eight of the other 90 players on the Steelers roster have been continuously with the team longer than Warren. Whereas in 2022 Warren was elated to play for whatever the team would pay him (his salary was the NFL minimum), as this season kicks off only nine Steelers will have a higher salary-cap hit than Warren.

A quiet — almost shy — rookie three years ago, now Warren is the fifth-oldest starter on offense. And after the Steelers made little attempt to re-sign erstwhile starting running back Najee Harris this spring, that left Warren as the unquestioned No. 1 back as camp gets underway with reporting day Wednesday and the first practice Thursday at Chuck Noll Field.

Warren understands that with the increased tenure, upped salary and heightened role comes a responsibility. He’s no longer that rookie, merely happy to be here and following around the Steelers’ veterans.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t say it’s weird,” Warren said after a summer workout session at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, “but it’s definitely different because I’ve always been the (young) one … But, you know, I don’t look at it as like I’m (any different as an older player).”

How so?

“I would say I’m still the kid that showed up a few years ago,” Warren said. “As far as the hard work, I’m still practicing like I’m still earning a spot. That’s how I look at it.”

After the Steelers’ selection of a running back — Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson — with their second pick of April’s draft, Warren is correct in that he still must earn his spot on the depth chart. Whereas Warren has played almost half the Steelers’ offensive snaps over the past two seasons, he has zero NFL starts to his name.

Harris started each of the Steelers’ 71 games (including playoffs) over the past four years. Whoever lines up behind Aaron Rodgers for the Steelers’ first offensive play at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 7 will be the first running back other than Harris to start for the Steelers since James Conner in the 2020 season finale.

Odds are, it will be Warren.

“Yeah, I knew the deal, I knew what it was when (Harris) left,” Warren said. “Obviously, I was staying, so I just looked at it as like I have to step my game up, play the ball that I’ve been playing, and just ball out from there.”

The season division of labor will be established over the next seven weeks, but of all possible outcomes the safest bet is Warren will have a significant role among a group that includes Johnson, March free agent signee Kenneth Gainwell and veteran returnee Cordarrelle Patterson.

Gainwell spent four seasons as the third-down back for the Philadelphia Eagles, who won two NFC titles in that span and last year’s Super Bowl. Johnson, a third-round pick, profiles more like Harris — a “first- and second-down back” — after he had 1,537 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns for Iowa in 2024.

Warren settled into the third-down role almost immediately upon entering the league after Harris had played virtually every meaningful down during his rookie season the year prior. But as valued as Warren has been for his pass protection and receiving skills out of the backfield, Gainwell has a similar profile.

“I feel like Jaylen and ‘KG’ are more alike than maybe (Warren and Johnson),” Steelers running backs coach Eddie Faulkner said. “‘K.J.’ is just really smooth, deceptively fast, very instinctive. That’s the best part about his game. And, you know, Kenny brings some skills along as a route runner and stuff like that. So, I actually think all three pieces play well off of each other.”

Still, Gainwell is on a one-year, $1.79 million contract, and Johnson is scheduled to make an average of $1.59 million over the course of the four-year rookie contract he signed in May.

Their combined average salaries pale in comparison to the $5.35 million Warren will make this season under the terms of the second-round contract tender the Steelers presented him as a restricted free agent this spring.

That amount is more than double what Warren made over his first three seasons combined. It’s also more than Harris will make this season from the Los Angeles Chargers ($5.25 million).

As such, Warren recognizes both the degree of belief the Steelers have him but also, as a pending unrestricted free agent, how much is riding on his 2025.

“It’s a blessing to get this far into the league,” Warren said. “But all (attention is) on to this next season. That’s what I’m focused on.

“I didn’t come this far to not give it all.”