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Setting him up nicely for his approaching free agency, Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris is now turning in what could be the most all-around efficient season of his career.

At least ESPN NFL Insider Jeremy Fowler thinks, noting that Harris has helped himself thus far and maybe raised his profile on the open market in the 2025 running back class.

” Pittsburgh’s Najee Harris is one player who has truly helped himself,” Fowler wrote. “He is almost to surpass 1,000 yards for the fourth time in his four seasons; his running yards would be almost 1,200, a career high. Not one of his contemporaries today has achieved it. Indeed, open-field speed is a concern, but he can control the correct offense’s tempo.
Remarkably, the Steelers turned down Harris’s fifth-year option during last offseason. Given how well he’s performed under offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, the organization might come to regret their decision, which would have cost just under $7 million in 2025.

Harris has put 824 yards and four touchdowns on the ground over 12 games in addition to 249 yards on 29 receptions. Having also done so in 2023, the 26-year-old is averaging four yards per rush for just his second time; his 8.6 yards per grab is far and away the highest tally of his career.

Harris is a real workhorse out of the backfield, a first-round choice out of Alabama in 2021. Although he has the fifth-most yards (4,093) at the position over that period, he is second only to fellow alum Derrick Henry in carries since joining the league.

Once the season finishes, Pittsburgh has a number of other contract issues to work out on the offenside of the ball from Russell Wilson and Justin Fields to Jaylen Warren and George Pickens. Harris is in line for a good pay day in the next months regardless of whether or not it keeps him around.