Steelers RB Jaylen Warren Taking Full Advantage of Najee Harris Absence
LATROBE -- When rookie running back Jaylen Warren met with media for the first time during camp, in the wake of an outstanding practice, his smile beamed across the scrum. An undrafted free agent signing of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Warren has had to spend his first months as a professional buried behind returners Najee Harris, Benny Snell and Anthony McFarland.
Harris hurt his foot in practice at the beginning of the second week, giving the Steelers staff a convenient excuse to wander the depth behind him. Snell, McFarland, Warren and fellow rookie Mateo Durant split carries in team drills in his absence, and Warren took full advantage. Facing a fully-padded defense, he ran with toughness and - most notably - eye popping agility.
"It's just always been my thing, I guess," Warren said "I've never been the fastest. Coming out of high school, I wasn't very highly recruited because my top-end speed wasn't that great. So I guess that's always been one thing to stick with me is my cuts."
But what his coaches were most impressed with was his conditioning. Head coach Mike Tomlin praised Warren's ability to shoulder a heavier practice workload seamlessly. Warren admits he wasn't prepared for that kind of a challenge when he first signed, but under the pressure of coaches and guidance of training staff, he got there.
"When I initially came in, I had conditioning coaches telling me 'You don't run enough' and that was enough for me to say 'Oh, okay maybe I should run more'," Warren said. "So that's what I did when they gave us the month off. I was just running and running to try and get myself conditioned for an opportunity like this."
On tracks, treadmills, roads and hills, Warren got there, whatever it took. Like any other undrafted rookie, Warren has little leeway - his coaches were very straight forward about that fact.
"[They said] they like what they're seeing," Warren said. "They tell me just don't do anything to mess it up. I have a really thin line coming in as an undrafted rookie so I can't really make a lot of mistakes like the starters can. Just got to put my best foot forward every time."
Harris is considered day-to-day with his injury, according to Tomlin, meaning that he could come back at a moment's notice and steal the spotlight back before Warren even has a chance to realize it had shifted to him. To that end, Warren is ready to take on any role that will keep him on the roster.
"It's very important, especially for someone in my position. They really bashed it into my head that I should make Danny [Smith], the special teams coordinator, my best friend. So I just try to get with him as much as I can."
As a former junior college standout turned Power 5 back turned NFL signee, that kind of grit and creativity is built into his DNA. Warren, an easy-going person by nature, said he had to cultivate his personality to the point where it could flip to aggressive and driven by simply stepping back onto the field.
"When I first started playing football and coming out of high school, I always said it was something that I'd have to force out of myself. But at this point, it's something automatic when I first get on the field. It just comes out. I love the competition and the grit and the grind."
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