Steelers seek niche for rookie RB Anthony McFarland as James Conner retains starting role

With the six players they added in the NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers provided depth and competition equally on offense and defense.

Three picks were used to address positions on each side of the ball, and the order of those selections indicated no immediate starters will be required from the group.

That is particularly true at running back, where James Conner will retain his starting job for the 2020 season, which is how general manager Kevin Colbert predicted it on numerous occasions heading into the draft.

While many fans and analysts thought the Steelers would take a running back with their second-round pick, it wasn’t until the third day of the draft and the fourth round that Maryland’s Anthony McFarland Jr. came off the board. A wide receiver and outside linebacker were the Steelers’ first two priorities.

The timing of the McFarland pick supported what Colbert had been saying about the position since the end of the season. Conner will be given another chance to start despite missing six games last year to injuries and rushing for just 464 yards. McFarland and others on the roster, including Benny Snell and Jaylen Samuels, will be used in supporting roles that will be defined in training camp — whenever that takes place.

“I know that starting the season we’ll have a healthy James Conner,” Colbert told reporters a few days before the draft. “We have some other young backs that have all been contributors in the past, and there’s no reason that they still can’t be contributors when healthy.”

Then, for either the third or fourth time in interviews since the end of the season, Colbert referred to Conner’s shoulder and thigh injuries as “acute” and pointed to Conner’s Pro Bowl season in 2018 as an example of the fourth-year running back’s potential when relatively healthy. Conner rushed for 973 yards that year in 13 games.

“He’s still a young, ascending player and when healthy, he’s an NFL Pro Bowl player,” Colbert said. “Again, that’s a hope. I know James will enter the season healthy, but can we complement it? We’ll see.”

In McFarland, the Steelers found a complementary piece — at least in 2020, after which Conner’s contract expires provided the organization doesn’t offer an extension.

McFarland, who declared for the draft after his redshirt sophomore season, ran the 40-yard dash in 4.44 seconds at the NFL Combine, making him the fastest player in the Steelers running back room. As evidenced by the touchdown runs of 81 and 75 yards he had against Ohio State in 2018, McFarland gives the Steelers a back with breakaway speed.

“We were able to add a running back that gives us a little change-up characteristic different than the guys we have,” Colbert said. “He has really good vision, one-step cut quickness and very good finish. He’s had a lot of big runs just finding that crease or finding a bounce to the outside where he could finish.”

McFarland became the fourth running back taken by the Steelers in as many years and the third to go off the board on the third day of the draft. Conner was a third-round compensatory pick in 2017, followed by Samuels (fifth-round in 2018) and Snell (fourth round in 2019). The Steelers also have a former seventh-round selection, by the Chicago Bears, in Kerrith Whyte.

Before Conner’s selection, the Steelers had gone three consecutive drafts without taking a running back dating to Le’Veon Bell’s second-round pick in 2013.

Snell was used in short-yardage situations last year, started twice in Conner’s absence and finished second on the team with 426 yards. Samuels was used in more passing situations — he also ran the wildcat — and had 175 rushing yards and 305 receiving yards, highest among the running backs. Whyte, who joined the Steelers in November, was used primarily on kickoff returns but did get 24 carries for 122 yards, a 5.08 average per attempt.

“Good guys, good football players,” running backs coach Eddie Faulkner said. “Young players who can continue to develop and (McFarland) just adds to that as well. When things start getting closer here to when we can get our hands on them, we will see where they fit into the equation.”

With Conner leading the way, the Steelers will attempt to improve a running game that finished No. 29 in the NFL last season and accounted for seven rushing touchdowns, the team’s fewest since 1982.

“We have every intention of running the ball better in 2020 than we did in 2019,” coach Mike Tomlin said before the draft, “whether we add that back or not, and that’s just being bluntly honest with you.”