Tim Benz: Steelers' use of Jaylen Warren is confusing, and Mike Tomlin's explanations are confounding

During his Tuesday press conference, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was asked why Jaylen Warren doesn’t get more snaps.

Particularly on third downs.

“Not taking anything away from Jaylen, he plays a lot on first and second down. You’ve got to give him opportunities to catch a break. Sometimes it’s on third down; sometimes it’s not. Sometimes we’ll give other ball carriers the start of a possession,” Tomlin said.

“He just simply cannot play every down.”

Well, no one is asking for Warren to play every down. How about half of them? Could we get there?

Warren only played 46% of the snaps during Sunday night’s 25-10 loss in Los Angeles. His 24 offensive snaps were the lowest output of his season. That’s despite the fact that he had 70 yards on 14 carries to go along with 21 receiving yards on two catches.

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Ironically, since that loss to the Chargers, Tomlin has been (appropriately) griping about the Steelers’ inefficiency on third downs. They went 0-for-9 to start the game and 2-for-11 overall.

Yet, Warren didn’t get a single snap on third down. Not one. That’s despite the fact that he made his bones in this league as a good pass-blocking, pass-catching third-down alternative to Najee Harris.

Look, I get it. Kenneth Gainwell is a model third-down back and a nice acquisition. He’s also, unfortunately, a skillset replication of Warren. He should be used as a way to spell Warren for rest when needed. Not as a guy who plays instead of Warren when the down and distance situation speaks to what Warren does best.

In part, the Steelers are in this pickle because Kaleb Johnson hasn’t developed into who he was supposed to be as a rookie yet. If Johnson proved worthy of more playing time, they could rest Warren for an entire series at a time, use Johnson on first and second downs, sub him out for Gainwell on third downs, and use Warren as an every-down back for the majority of the game.

Or, Johnson could be the base back and Warren could get a ton of reps as an expanded third-down back as he did in partnership with Harris — with Gainwell serving as a capable reserve and special teams player.

Instead, because Johnson isn’t worthy of more than a handful of snaps per game at this point, Tomlin has Warren pigeon-holed as the base back and Gainwell as the third-down guy.

That’s hurting both players.

Ironically, Gainwell’s best contribution to the team was when he was the every-down back in Dublin and popped off for 134 yards from scrimmage and two scores against Minnesota after Warren was a last-minute scratch.

At that point, the Steelers coaches couldn’t overthink it, and their only other option was more reps from Johnson.

Frankly, the best answer seems to be to rest Warren by way of giving a full series or two per half to Gainwell, and let both men be their own third-down back for the drives they are on the field. Get Johnson his reps dotting in for those two when they need a break mid-series if you like.

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Right now, though, having Warren play none of the third downs — and having Gainwell play only the third downs — seems to be doing very little for either person.

After all, during the last two games, Gainwell has only had nine touches for 38 yards over 50 offensive snaps. He hasn’t recorded a positive rushing yard since late in the Green Bay game.

“Jaylen was having the trajectory of a good day in L.A., but we didn’t convert enough third downs for you to really, really feel it,” Tomlin said.

“We win more third downs, we’ll get Jaylen more touches. It’s as simple as that.”

Is it? Or is that overcomplicating things? That sounds like a self-defeating prophecy to me.

Isn’t it harder to convert third downs if your most consistent offensive weapon this season is on the bench for all of them?

What comes first? Warren’s lack of usage because of third-down inefficiency? Or third-down inefficiency because Warren isn’t playing?

It’s a chicken-or-the-egg argument, and Tomlin decided to just order steak instead.

Listen: Tim Benz and Chris Adamski wrap up Mike Tomlin’s press conference in advance of the Cincinnati rematch