There’s no glaring criticism of the future to be made about Thursday’s decision by the Pittsburgh Steelers to decline Najee Harris’ fifth-year option.

In either direction.

By rejecting the option, if Harris gets hurt or underperforms in 2024, his contract will expire, and they can let him walk and get some other cheaper running back to do the job.

Then, the move will prove to be prudent.

If he performs well, the club can attempt to work out a short, multi-year contract with Harris, guarantee him a little bit more in cash than the $6.7 million he would’ve gotten in 2025, but prorate the cash so that the salary cap hit is barely more onerous (if it is at all) for the next few years moving forward, when he would still count less than 3% of the team’s cap.

Until (say it with me), they can let him walk and get some other cheaper running back to do the job.

Under that scenario, they might be spending a bit more, but they’ll be doing it as the cap is going up even more, and they are spreading out the hit on their terms without the risk of $6.7 million sitting on the books in ‘25 if ‘24 goes poorly.

Ironically, the very cavalier nature of how running backs are treated makes this allegedly difficult decision for the Steelers not that difficult at all. Even if they get rid of a good player too early, it should be easy to find another one at the position whenever (and wherever) they want.

I mean, it was 41 picks before a running back went off the board in this year’s draft. Current and former Pro Bowlers Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley, Aaron Jones, Joe Mixon, Josh Jacobs and Austin Ekeler bounced around from team to team this offseason, and the NFL world barely batted an eyelash.

Via OvertheCap.com, Ekeler is only going to make $4.25 million on average over two years in Washington. He has 44 total touchdowns the past three years. Jones has nearly 8,000 yards from scrimmage in his career. His cap hit in Minnesota is only slated to be $3.5 million this year and $3.2 million in 2025. Henry is going to the Hall of Fame. His new cap hit in Baltimore is just $5.1 million for 2024.

So if the Steelers want to figure out a way to keep Harris, it won’t break the bank. But could you blame him for being bitter and going elsewhere for relatively the same money should that eventuality come to pass?

I wouldn’t. After all, would the harm have been that great if the Steelers had wed themselves to Harris’s fifth-year option?

No, it wouldn’t have been. What’s $6.7 million? It’s what Alex Highsmith’s salary cap hit is in 2024 — just 2.6% of the team’s total.

In 2023, the Steelers recorded 1,029 offensive snaps. Between carries, receptions and targets, the ball was thrown at, or handed to, Harris 293 times. That’s 28.4% of the offense going to one guy.

Translation: For roughly 2.6% of the team’s cap space next year, it would’ve secured the guy who was given the ball on more than a quarter of the snaps last year.

That doesn’t sound exorbitant to me.

That’s a long way of saying that it would’ve been hard to indict GM Omar Khan and head coach Mike Tomlin if they had decided to activate or reject the option Thursday.

• A look at Pirates' offensive numbers finds little reason for immediate hope • Pittsburgh Marathon offers strong tradition, something new • U mad, bro?: Some fans didn't like the Steelers' draft (or my opinions on it); 'ruff' debut for Pirates' pup

However, what is now easy to say is that forgoing the fifth-year option is a complete indictment of choosing a first-round running back in the first place three years ago.

I was all for the Steelers drafting Harris in the first round. I liked the pick. I wanted the player. Running back was an obvious position of need. He was in the bottom third of the first round. And (drum roll) Pittsburgh was going to have him for five years.

Unless Harris was a total bust, the organization was getting a quality running back for less than $13 million in total cash over the five freshest years of his career.

Harris hasn’t been great. But he hasn’t been a bust, either.

And now that the Steelers are just giving away the last year of the deal, they are ostensibly admitting, “Eh, we shoulda waited until Day 2 to take a back like Javonte Williams or Rhomandre Stevenson. Maybe we could’ve taken Landon Dickerson and his two Pro Bowls and started the offensive line rebuild earlier.”

What the Steelers have essentially done here is given every draft nerd who screeched about the “wasted positional value of running back in the first-round” 100% reason to holler, “I told you so,” even though Harris has been a decent enough player.

That’s an easy thing for Khan to do. Harris wasn’t his pick. Kevin Colbert was still in charge then. But Tomlin? There is some egg on his face with this one, especially with the amount of public support he threw behind the pick and has for Harris in the years since.

Now he’s willing to let Harris walk a year early for Jaylen Warren and a mystery RB2 to be named later? So they can burn a pick on a running back in next year’s draft? Or throw free-agent capital at someone else when they are going to have a ton of holes to be filled on offense?

Neither quarterback is under contract for 2025. You don’t know who the No. 2 wide receiver is going to be this year, let alone next year. James Daniels is up. So are Dan Moore, Nate Herbig and Pat Freiermuth. Not to mention that Warren is a restricted free agent after this year too.

So with all those questions about next year’s offense, the Steelers could’ve at least had 28% of last year’s snap distribution under cost certainty for what would’ve been half of what they paid Chuks Okorafor last year.

The franchise’s decision to reject Harris’ fifth-year option may or may not prove to be smart. But now it’s hard to argue that selecting Harris in the first round ever was.

Listen: Tim Benz and Chris Adamski discuss the Najee Harris fifth-year option decision

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)