Rosters around the NFL are largely ready for Week 1 of the 2024 season. But there will be plenty of roster shuffling as the season goes, including perhaps a few blockbuster trades. Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine proposed one of those big trades could involve one of the top two running backs — Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren — from the Pittsburgh Steelers.
On August 31, Ballentine included the Steelers trading either Harris or Warren to the Kansas City Chiefs on his list of “bold” trade predictions for the 2024 season.
“It’s no secret the running back position has been devalued,” Ballentine wrote. “But if the Chiefs believe that adding another talented back could put them over the top in their quest to threepeat as champions then it would be worth it to them.
“Notable trade targets that could make sense include either of the Pittsburgh Steelers running backs Jaylen Warren and/or Najee Harris. Both are set to become free agents after this season and it’s unlikely the Steelers pay both of them.”
Ballentine predicted this trade to occur after the Steelers “struggle” early in the season.
Will the Steelers Be Sellers at NFL Trade Deadline?
In Ballentine’s proposal, the Steelers become sellers close to the 2024 season midpoint. For that to happen, they will have to fall out of the race before Halloween.
It’s difficult to predict what the Steelers will do if that occurs because it’s rarely happened. The last time they didn’t finish with at least a .500 record was 2003.
But in 2022, the Steelers started the season 2-6 and then dealt receiver Chase Claypool at the trade deadline. So, there’s recent history to suggest the Steelers could move a player still on their rookie deal during the season.
However, the Claypool trade could have been a special case. Looking back at the trade two years later, he was clearly addition by subtraction. The Chicago Bears also made the absurd offer of a second-round pick for the young receiver, making it a trade the Steelers couldn’t refuse.
Even then, the Steelers didn’t trade him to another team in the same conference.
Steelers Interested in Signing RB Najee Harris or Jaylen Warren?
The Steelers have not made signing any of their current players to contract extensions a priority this offseason. But now that a potential trade for Brandon Aiyuk is dead, the team could work to sign a few of their veterans to new deals.
Steelers Depot’s Matthew Marczi argued that tight end Pat Freiermuth is the first player who needs an extension followed by defensive end Cameron Heyward. But he didn’t rule out an extension for Harris.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac went further in early May, predicting an extension for Harris. Dulac made that prediction even after the Steelers declined the running back’s fifth-year option.
“I think the idea will be to give him a new contract, a two-year contract, and somewhere along the line, that type of money that he was missing out on,” Dulac said on The End Zone on SiriusXM NFL Radio, via Steelers Depot. ” I think that’s what they’re going to do.
“They are not ready to give up on Najee Harris or move on from Najee Harris.”
Now, if that’s the case, that doesn’t mean Warren couldn’t then be a trade chip at the midseason point. But if Harris doesn’t sign a new deal before Week 1, the Steelers could keep both backs through the season and then attempt to sign one of them to an extension during the offseason.
The other thing to keep in mind is Mike Tomlin’s record of turning around his teams after bad starts. After the Claypool trade, the Steelers finished the season 7-2.
That’s why the Steelers will have to be completely out of the playoff picture to be sellers. Even then, the Chiefs may have to make an enticing offer for the Steelers to depart with either Harris or Warren.
