Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris hasn’t spoke with reporters since the team declined his fifth-year option. He’s been at OTAs, but has refused to talk. That will change this week at mandatory minicamp, however.
“He won’t even acknowledge anybody,” Mark Kaboly of The Athletic said during a recent appearance on 93.7 The Fan. “We won’t find out how he feels until Tuesday or Wednesday when he is required to talk. But, he was required to talk after games last year and missed two or three of those.”
Harris having a surly attitude due to the fifth-year option was a concern for Kaboly. Not speaking to reporters at OTAs doesn’t mean much, but how will Harris respond during the season if things don’t go well? He’s playing on the last year of his deal, and it’s likely that he won’t be back in Pittsburgh next season.
“I mean, he’s a very unique character. He’s hard to get a read on. Sometimes he’s cranky and sometimes he’s talkative. My biggest concern right now is which one are you going to get during the regular season here… is he going to be sitting and moaning and complaining behind the scenes… I’m not quite sure right now because he’s a very intriguing individual that can go either way at this point,” Kaboly said in May.
Kaboly thinks the Steelers might have thrown Harris into a leadership role too soon. Harris was named a team captain in 2022, but wasn’t in 2023. Harris said at the time that he had no issue with it.
“They may have thrown him into that leadership role a little bit earlier than he was ready for, and it wasn’t good for them to pull back on that last year. They portrayed him as ‘that guy’ moving forward after his rookie season, and obviously, that didn’t pan out,” Kaboly said.
Harris has displayed leadership qualities in the past, but is usually very to himself. He orchestrated player-only meetings last year when the offense was struggling.
Some leaders just lead by example. Harris is really not a rah-rah guy.
“You just don’t know him very well. Not too many people know him very well, so it’s very hard for me to speak intelligently on a guy that you don’t really know or talk to,” Kaboly said.
