Najee Harris said he was disappointed by the decision by the Pittsburgh Steelers to not pick up the fifth-year option on his contract, and that he’d like to stay in Pittsburgh, but it now focused on getting ready for the 2024 season.
Speaking to the media for the first time since the end of the 2023 season on Wednesday as the Steelers reported to training camp at St. Vincent College, Harris said that it took him some time to get over the disappointment of the news he got in May, that he will not be under contract with the Steelers in 2025.
“I was disappointed for a minute,” he said. “It’s nothing really where me sitting around, being disappointed for too long would do anything to help me out. It is what it is and you’ve just got to keep it pushing. Coming out here, doing what’s best for the team, and coming out here, is what’s most important right now. Yeah I was for a minute, couple days, but it passed my mind so fast.”
Harris said that the team told him uncertainty with the future of the offense was the reason that his option wasn’t picked up. He believes it also has to do with the devaluation of the running back position league-wide.
“They’re only devalued when it’s time to pay,” he said. “Obviously, they’re not devalued. Me sitting here, saying that I’m a devalued position when there’s literally games where I literally carried the offense, giving me the ball. I’m not really devalued, just when it’s time to pay you, that’s when they want to devalue the position. But it is what it is.”
He brushed aside talk of continued contract negotiations, but said he likes being in Pittsburgh and wants to stay here long-term, despite the snub on his option.
“Yeah, most definitely,” Harris said. “I like it here in Pittsburgh. I like Coach T, Mr. Rooney, Omar, even Kevin Colbert when he was here. It’s a good city. Obviously, the people here are nice and are welcoming.
“But, you know, it’s a business. It comes and goes. I’ve been around this stuff all my life. What I always take from it is I’ve always been in the driver’s seat of this and God’s been steering it. Wherever he stops the car, is whoever I’m working at. If it’s here or somewhere else, by all means, I’m going to do everything I can for that team. That’s just the mindset you’ve gotta have with this sport.”
That mindset is the reason that Harris reported to training camp, and didn’t hold out as others have done around the NFL. That, and what he saw as a lack of success in that strategy.
“Right now,” he said. “We don’t have any leverage.”
I already have motivation. … I don’t need somebody to tell me what I can and can’t do. I already had my motivation since I was a kid. It’s nothing new to me. I’ve been in this spotlight, in this position ever since I was a kid.
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