Steelers to expand Wildcat usage, Najee Harris says

Not unlike a scouting report he might give on an opposing linebacker’s range, Najee Harris on Friday played it straight with a concise assessment of his throwing arm.

“It’s good,” the Pittsburgh Steelers running back said after practice. “Good, it’s good.”

Can Harris make all the throws he’s asked to?

“Yep.”

So far, that’s only been one throw. But Harris did complete that one — a 4-yard toss to Diontae Johnson during the Oct. 30 game at the Philadelphia Eagles. Two plays later, the Steelers scored their only touchdown of that game.

Small victory during a 35-13 loss, to be sure. But the Wildcat has been a regular — if small — part of the Steelers’ offense in recent weeks. It’s been deployed twice each during the past two games and five times over the past four Steelers games.

“I think it opens up a lot, gives me different looks,” Harris said. “So we are going to expand it more and see what else we can do with it.”

Najee Harris on the wildcat package pic.twitter.com/R14PqhJiAK

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) November 18, 2022

The five direct snaps to Harris this season have netted 15 yards — four rushes for 7 yards and the one completion. Evaluating success can be subjective, but three or four of the five Wildcat snaps seemed to achieve what was intended: one was a run of 4 yards to get the Steelers out from being backed up at their own 1, the pass was one of two from deep in an opponent’s territory that helped set up a touchdown (it happened in the second half of the win against Tampa Bay, too). Another play came in this past week’s game against the New Orleans Saints when Harris gained 3 yards on a first down.

“(The Wildcat) opens up the package options for a lot of stuff,” Harris said. “You can pass, you can do a lot of stuff with it. You can expand it to do a lot of other things, too. So that’s just another way of (forcing) defenses to gameplan against that.”

With the Steelers struggling to score points, ranking 31st in the NFL, the offense increasingly has turned to nontraditional plays such as Wildcat snaps and jet sweeps.

“Even (offensive coordinator) Matt Canada said we are trying to focus more on that,” Harris said of creativity in the running game, “so I think that is, kind of our identity as an offense.”

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