Steelers RB Jaylen Warren carried 16 times for 127 yards in Thursday night's loss to the Bengals. It was the second-most carries and second-most rushing yards of his career. Warren added another 31 yards on four catches, tying for third on the team with five targets (15% share). Warren consistently found big running lanes off tackle. He had a long run of 37 yards and three other runs of 10+ yards.
2025 Fantasy Football Impact
Warren's big game followed a Week 6 that found him working in a three-RB committee. He played 52% of Pittsburgh's offensive snaps and handled 11 of 23 RB carries in that one, ceding six apiece to Kenneth Gainwell and Kaleb Johnson.
Gainwell carried just three times in the win over the Bengals, while Johnson didn't play a single offensive snap. Warren's 65% snap rate was his second-highest of the season, trailing only his 78% in Week 3. His 51% route rate also trailed only Week 3's 60%.
Pittsburgh's backfield usage has been a moving target all season. Warren has consistently been at the top of the totem pole, though, garnering a 60.9% carry share and a 12.5% target share across his five games.
We'll probably need to deal with more shenanigans from OC Arthur Smith the rest of the way. But Warren seems like a good bet to at least get RB3-level usage, with spikes into higher-end RB2 territory.
The Steelers get negative RB matchups the next two weeks vs. the Packers and Colts. But four of their next six games come against bottom-six RB defenses. Overall, Pittsburgh has the 11th-easiest RB schedule from Week 8-17.