When it comes to Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert, I don’t think he goes out of his way to lie to the media during his rare meetings with us. But I do think he avoids giving direct answers to the best of his ability.

It’s as if he has an allergy to them. Like, a T.J. Watt-level kind of tree nut allergy.

Throughout his last NFL draft scouting combine media appearance before his retirement, Colbert went out in top form. Because the Easter eggs were tough to find during his Q&A Tuesday.

There was one quote that stood out to me, though, mainly because it was about a surprising subject. A player who has given us very little to talk about heading into 2022 in terms of questions or concerns. That’s because he did such a nice job of seemingly steadying a position that was a glaring issue in 2020.

It was about running back Najee Harris, last year’s first-round draft choice out of Alabama.

“I hope Najee can build off of what he did for us last year. It was a good start,” Colbert said.

In usual Colbert form (and assuming that was the sense that most people had of Harris’ rookie season), I would’ve expected Colbert’s response to stop there.

But it didn’t.

“It wasn’t the start that he envisioned. I think he thinks there’s more. We think there’s more but it’s certainly great to have him as part of it,” Colbert concluded.

That quote seemed to get a lot of traction in Pittsburgh because it was the first time that any Steelers upper management level employee had really ever given a sense of anything less than pure joy with Harris’ rookie year.

Why wouldn’t everyone gush about Harris’ first year? After all, he led the NFL in touches with 381. He set the team’s record for yards from scrimmage by a rookie at 1,667 and in rushing yards at 1,200. Yet he never fumbled during the regular season (he did lose one in the playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs). He was third in the NFL in picking up first downs rushing with 62.

For his efforts, Harris was named as a Pro Bowl replacement in his first season.

Plus, he did a lot of that without a very good offensive line blocking in front of him and facing defenses that were loading the box because the Steelers’ reliance on a quick-release passing game.

However, while stopping short of 100% effusive praise of Harris may have been a noticeable departure for Colbert, he’s not wrong.

Harris only averaged 3.9 yards per carry and 70.6 yards per game. His longest run was 37 yards. So, the breakaway runs weren’t often there. The game-changing element of the game didn’t frequently exist. Drive-extending rushes and field-flipping carries were needed at a greater rate.

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Harris was stellar at taking two-yard losses and turning them into three-yard gains behind that leaky offensive line. But he wasn’t special at taking a lot of five-yard runs and making them 25-yarders.

Perhaps that’s where Colbert was going with his less-than-scathing critique. Perhaps that’s what he meant when he said, “It wasn’t the start that he envisioned. I think he thinks there’s more. We think there’s more.”

I think he’s right. If that’s what Harris is genuinely communicating to him, then I think Harris is right, too. We saw a lot of Harris’ toughness, determination, work ethic and drive (physically and mentally). What we didn’t see was a ton of breakaway difference-making plays.

As a first-round pick, I believe that is in there and I bet both Colbert and Harris are proven right if Harris gets some help. If the line is improved. If the passing game becomes capable of backing defenses off the line.

If that happens, whoever replaces Colbert won’t be standing in Indianapolis a few years from now couching comments about another Pro Bowl season for Najee Harris.

That person will be avoiding questions about if the Steelers are going to extend him and probably back up the Brinks truck to do so.

But probably not as skillfully as Colbert always has.

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