As Receiver, Steelers Rookie RB Harris Can Make Packers Look ‘Silly’
GREEN BAY, Wis. – It will be strength vs. strength when Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris is unleashed as a receiver on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.
While Harris hasn’t gotten rolling as a runner with his meager 3.1-yard average, he’s been a menace when utilized in the passing game. At 230 pounds, he’s simply too big for the defensive backs he faces in the open field.
“He’s a hell of a back,” Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry said on Thursday. “You can tell how physical he is and the type of player he is when he has the ball in his hands. He’s a big guy, he really is. They use him in all situations. It’s not like he’s just a guy that’s running inside zone on first-and-10. He plays on all downs. They use him in the empty game. They get him out of the backfield and throw him the ball. He’s a complete back.”
In a 24-10 loss to Cincinnati on Sunday, Harris caught 14 passes for 102 yards. He was targeted 19 times, the second-highest for a running back since at least 1950, behind only Alvin Kamara’s 20-target performance in 2018. He had 109 yards after the catch, according to Zebra Technologies, with 31 yards over expectation. That’s because he forced eight missed tackles.
Harris has broken 13 tackles as a receiver, tops among all players, regardless of position.
Meanwhile, according to SportRadar, the Packers’ defense has missed 16 tackles. That’s tied for the seventh-fewest entering Week 4. Slot corner Chandon Sullivan and defensive lineman Kenny Clark have missed three apiece, safeties Adrian Amos and Darnell Savage have each missed two, and Preston Smith, Za’Darius Smith, Ty Summers, De’Vondre Campbell, Kevin King and Henry Black have missed one.
“I think the biggest thing we always talk about with our guys is you’ve got to have a tackling plan,” Barry said. “As a tackler, you have to approach a ball-carrier different if he’s a guy that’s 5-10, 190 pounds compared to 6-1, 230 pounds. You’ve got to have a plan and really a mental approach when that guy has the ball. ‘How am I going to get him down?’ Even in his early NFL career, he’s embarrassed some people in the three games they’ve had as far as running through them, running over them, stiff-arming them. You’ve got to have a plan. He’s a talent. There’s no doubt about it.”
Among running backs, Harris is first with 20 receptions, fourth with 149 yards and third with 153 yards after the catch. His 13 missed tackles are three more than Detroit’s D’Andre Swift; the next two players, Carolina’s Christian McCaffrey and Seattle’s Chris Carson, have missed 12 – one fewer than Harris by himself.
Green Bay has allowed 113 receiving yards to running backs, 13th-best.
“We watched a clip of him yesterday where he stiff-armed a Raider defensive back and like threw him down on his back and was able to get extra yards,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “There were a couple clips in that Cincinnati game where he caught a ball out of the backfield and he gets like 20 yards, makes like five guys miss. So, we’re going to have to swarm around him and do a great job of maintaining leverage and wrapping him up because he’s a big guy that can make you look silly.”
