Steelers RB Jaylen Warren is expected to miss "multiple weeks" with the hamstring injury he suffered in Saturday's preseason game vs. the Bills, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. Pittsburgh's season-opener is three weeks away, and Pelissero confirms that Warren's availability for Week 1 is "in doubt."
Steelers RB Jaylen Warren suffered a hamstring injury in the first half of Saturday night's preseason game vs. the Bills. The team labeled him doubtful to return (which he obviously won't).
Steelers RB Najee Harris has dropped weight this offseason. His trainer estimates that he's at 235 pounds now -- seven pounds lighter than his listed weight. Harris has upped his training time and cleaned up his diet.
The Steelers have declined the fifth-year option on RB Najee Harris' rookie contract. Harris would have counted about $6.8 million vs. the salary cap had the team exercised his option, so it's not a shocking development. But it's notable that Pittsburgh would rather let him hit the open market than pay what would be the No. 12 RB salary in the league by this year's average annual values. Harris has seen his carries per game and receptions per game decline each of the past two years, while also watching Jaylen Warren gain yards at a more efficient pace. It'll be interesting to see whether Pittsburgh plans any further decline for Harris' 2024 workload in the first season under new OC Arthur Smith. As it stands, Harris and Warren both look fine at best ball ADP. Feel free to mix either player (or both) in to your best ball drafting.
The Steelers signed WR Cordarrelle Patterson to a two-year, $6 million deal, NFL Network reports. He's reuniting with OC Arthur Smith, who coached Patterson in Atlanta the past three seasons. Patterson averaged 10.2 carries and 3.4 targets per game across his first two years with Smith but just 3.6 carries and 0.9 targets per game last year. That was largely due to the arrival of RB Bijan Robinson -- but Patterson also struggled to just 3.6 yards per carry and 4.2 yards per catch. He turned 33 earlier this month. Patterson is unlikely to be a fantasy asset this season, although he could siphon some work from RB Najee Harris and especially RB Jaylen Warren in the passing game.
The Steelers are set to hire Arthur Smith as their new OC, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. Smith, of course, is coming off a baffling and underwhelming three-year tenure as Falcons HC, compiling a 21-30 record and oftentimes mismanaging his offensive talent. Smith, though, was much more successful as Titans OC in 2019 and 2020. Both of those teams ranked top-12 in both total yards and points, leaning on RB Derrick Henry to finish top-3 in rushing yards both years. We'd expect Smith to bring a run-heavy offense to Pittsburgh -- especially considering the team's questions at QB.
The Steelers-Bills game originally scheduled for 1 pm ET on Sunday has been moved to 4:30 pm ET on Monday. Buffalo is expecting heavy snow and wind gusts up to 60 mph on Sunday. The forecast for Monday calls for light snow, sustained winds around 15 mph, and gusts up to 30 mph. That's still tough weather for the passing and kicking games -- but significantly better than it would have been on Sunday. We're adjusting our projections for this game.
Steelers RB Jaylen Warren saw a diminished workload in Week 18 vs. the Ravens. The second-year back tallied 33 rushing yards on 9 carries, along with 5 catches for 17 yards as a receiver in the contest. Though he played second fiddle on Saturday, Warren posted very solid production this season (nine games of 10+ PPR points) in a near-50/50 workshare with teammate Najee Harris. Warren also logged nearly twice as many targets (74) as Harris (38) in 2023, further solidifying himself as the preferred option in the Pittsburgh backfield for managers in half- or full-PPR formats. Look for him to continue yielding high-end RB3/low-end RB2 level value in 2024.
Steelers RB Najee Harris tallied 19 carries for 78 rushing yards and a TD in Week 16 vs. the Bengals. His teammate Jaylen Warren also saw a healthy amount of involvement, totaling 8 carries for 24 yards with 5 catches for 30 receiving yards on the contest. He also tied for the team lead in targets (6) on Saturday with WR George Pickens. The Pittsburgh duo will again be worth starting as flex options in Week 16 going up against a fairly neutral Seahawks front (14th-best RB matchup per our adjusted fantasy points allowed).
The Steelers didn’t get much going in their 30-13 loss vs. the Colts in Week 15, but their backfield situation is starting to take an interesting turn. RB Jaylen Warren (10 carries, 40 rushing yards) appeared on a season-high 68.9% of the offensive snaps on Saturday and out-touched teammate Najee Harris 15 to 12. On top of that, the second-year back led the Steelers in receptions (5) and ranked second on the team in targets (6). Warren had appeared on no greater than 52% of the snaps at any point this season before Saturday, so the fact that Pittsburgh went away from the typical 50-50 RB split is highly notable. The Steelers’ remaining schedule ranks 10th-best for RBs per our adjusted fantasy points allowed. Warren stands to be a solid mid-tier RB2 should this trend continue.
Steelers RB Najee Harris managed just 48 scoreless yards in Thursday night's loss to the Patriots. The knee issue that had him questionable coming in wasn't a noticeable problem -- and didn't impact Harris' usage. He played 57% of Pittsburgh's offensive snaps and out-carried RB Jaylen Warren 12 to seven. This was simply a case of a solid Patriots run defense showing no respect to QB Mitchell Trubisky and loading up to stop the Steelers' ground game. Harris averaged just 2.4 yards per carry; Warren was even worse at 1.6. The good news is that Harris and Warren get much softer matchups the next three weeks against the Colts, Bengals, and Seahawks, who rank 30th, 17th, and 23rd in adjusted fantasy points allowed to RBs. The bad news is that Trubisky will likely be under center for at least one and maybe all three of those games.
Steelers RB Najee Harris (knee) is active for tonight's game vs. the Patriots. He didn't practice at all on the short week due to a knee issue that he's been managing throughout the season, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. It's unclear if Harris' workload will be scaled back tonight. See where he sits in the Week 14 RB Rankings as you weigh Harris against your other options.
Steelers RB Najee Harris (knee) is expected to play vs. the Patriots tonight, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. Harris didn't practice on Tuesday or Wednesday and is listed as questionable. "This is not a new injury," Pelissero adds. "He's been managing the knee throughout the season. Just didn't feel great coming out of the game [last week], so they wanted to rest him." This sounds like the typical late-season, short-week soreness. The issue still adds some risk to Harris' Week 14 fantasy profile -- and we could certainly see Pittsburgh shift some work from Harris to RB Jaylen Warren. See where both Steelers sit in the Week 14 RB Rankings.
Steelers RB Najee Harris (knee) is listed as questionable for Thursday night's game vs. the Patriots. He was added to the injury report and sidelined on Tuesday and then missed practice again on Wednesday. His availability for this one is seemingly in legitimate question. We'll look for further updates on Harris' status and get Pittsburgh's inactives a little before 7 pm ET tomorrow.
Steelers RB Najee Harris (knee) did not practice on Tuesday. He wasn't listed on Monday's estimated injury report. This is certainly something to monitor on the short week. We'll see how Harris is listed on the final injury report tomorrow for Thursday night's game vs. the Patriots. His absence would be a huge boost to RB Jaylen Warren's fantasy value.
Steelers QB Kenny Pickett will miss an "extended period" with his ankle injury, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Gerry Dulac. We'll look for a more detailed diagnosis and timetable for Pickett's return, but it sounds like it'll be QB Mitchell Trubisky under center for the Steelers for the foreseeable future. He's completed 63.8% of his passes at 6.7 yards per attempt over the past two seasons in Pittsburgh. Trubisky will be a bottom-barrel QB2 in fantasy football but probably won't be a significant downgrade from Pickett for the offense.
NFL Network's Ian Rapoport hears that there will be more focus on getting the ball to RB Jaylen Warren and WR George Pickens under new co-offensive coordinators Mike Sullivan and Eddie Faulkner. Novel idea to get the ball to your two most explosive playmakers! Warren was already a nice RB2 play in today's plus matchup vs. the Bengals. We'd still consider Pickens a risk/reward WR3 -- although this news makes him a bit easier to get into Week 12 fantasy lineups.
The Steelers have fired OC Matt Canada, who has been running the unit since 2021. In that time, Pittsburgh has ranked 21st, 26th, and 28th (so far this year) in scoring. Each season has found the offense ranking 28th in yards per play. NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reports that the team plans to promote RBs coach Eddie Faulkner to OC but hand play-calling duties to QBs coach Mike Sullivan. Faulkner has coached Steelers RBs since 2019 (and previously served in the same role for the team in 2012). His only OC experience to date has been with Ball State in 2009-10. Sullivan has been coaching at the college level or higher for 30 years. He has been in the NFL since 2002, including stints as Buccaneers OC (2012-13) and Giants OC (2016-17). Those offenses finished -- in order -- 13th, 30th, 26th, and 31st in scoring; eighth, 32nd, 24th, and 25th in yards per play. Sullivan didn't get great QB play across those offenses. He started with fourth-season Josh Freeman in Tampa, and then got primarily Mike Glennon the following year. His two seasons at the Giants' offensive helm came in Eli Manning's age-35 and age-36 campaigns. NFL Network's Mike Garafolo says Sullivan has a "strong relationship" with Steelers QB Kenny Pickett, but the new guy probably isn't an upgrade on those previous situations. The switch should be positive for usable skill-position Steelers, though. Canada never won as a play caller and often sported questionable run-pass splits given the output. This year's Steelers also should find upside in a softening schedule. According to FTN's Aaron Schatz, Pittsburgh faced the league's toughest schedule so far this year by total defensive DVOA. Over a full season, the 2023 schedule to date would rank third-toughest of any team since 1981. You can see the negative fantasy impacts of those opponents on our Strength of Schedule pages. The remaining schedule ranks fifth-best for RB scoring and ninth-best for WRs. (Just 17th for TEs, though.) We'll see whether the run-pass splits change. That question plus Pickett's limitations make the WRs tough to get excited about. RB Najee Harris looks interesting, though -- especially because his trade cost has been driven down by meager production and Jaylen Warren's recent numbers.
Steelers RB Jaylen Warren exploded in Week 11, logging 129 rushing yards on 9 carries vs. the Browns. To emphasize his impressive performance, consider that Warren recorded a 74-yard TD run early in the third quarter. Even if you remove that play from Warren’s performance, he still would’ve had nearly twice as many total yards (71) on the 11 other touches than his teammate Najee Harris did (36) on 13 touches in the contest. Still, the Steelers held Warren to a 44.8% snap share on Sunday. This is still a frustratingly split backfield. It’s feasible, however, that back-to-back 100-yard efforts from the former UDFA could push Pittsburgh to give Warren more work over Harris moving forward. It’ll be intriguing to see how the workload is distributed in Week 12 against a softer Bengals defense (29th in run-defense DVOA in 2023).
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