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Brooke Pryor, ESPN Staff Writer
PITTSBURGH — With prominent veteran running backs prematurely hitting the market recently, Pittsburgh Steelers RB Najee Harris said Tuesday he doesn’t buy into the narrative that his position has a short shelf life.
Both Dalvin Cook and Ezekiel Elliott were released from lucrative deals by their longtime teams this offseason, while New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley was franchise-tagged.
“To see people like that get released, especially in my position, it’s like, damn, what did they do?” Harris said at Steelers minicamp. “Is it because of their age? You know what I mean? Dalvin Cook is coming off of multiple 1,000 yard seasons. What? I don’t know. Is it money from the team? They got to pay somebody? I don’t know. But it’s eye-opening, for sure.”
Earlier this week, Harris showed support for his position mates, reposting an interview clip of Barkley saying that he believes the top three running backs this year — himself, Tony Pollard and Josh Jacobs — were tagged to keep them from hitting the open market and cap their salaries at $10 million, depressing the overall market for running backs.
“What we go through is probably one of the roughest positions,” Harris said. “I’m just advocating … I agree with pretty much what those guys are saying. I’m a running back myself, and I’m pretty sure any running backs who will want to come in the league … people going around and telling them, ‘If you want to get paid, don’t be a running back.'”
Harris, 25, has long been a vocal advocate for running backs, dating back to draft night in 2021, when the Steelers selected him with the No. 24 overall pick.
Since then, he’s been a key piece of the Steelers’ offense as their primary back in each of the past two seasons. Though he battled a foot injury through training camp and the early part of the 2022 season, Harris’ surge after the bye led to a second consecutive 1,000-yard rushing season with 10 total touchdowns.
“The position is an art to me,” Harris said. “I’ll always love the position. You could do so much. It’s almost as if you’re a queen in chess. You could do a lot of things: Line up out wide, run the ball, protection. [You] could be implemented in the offense so much. For them to say a position is not as valued, it’s kind of crazy.”
After his rookie season, Harris added muscle and adopted an intensive training regime, including boxing, to maintain his body and increase his longevity. He also practices yoga during the season, all in an effort to prolong his career and buck the narrative around running backs.
“All l I could do is take care of my body and show them that I’m still available,” Harris said. “I guess [what] all running backs could do is really just show that the best ability is availability. So, me just showing that I’m still who I said I was when I first got in [the NFL] … I think that’s important. With age, you can’t stop that. They just think when you turn a certain age and it’s over with, which is the craziest thing possible. There’s people in this league who’s 30, 40.
“I think it’s just a matter of how you take care of your body. I think that plays a big role. LeBron said he spent millions of dollars on his body. I mean, ain’t going to say I spent a million, but I spend a lot of money on my body, too, because I know the best ability is availability.”