Many people around the NFL were really excited about Najee Harris and the potential that the running back out of Alabama brought with him to the Steelers.
The young tailback showed that he is fast, strong, and highly intelligent, which would allow him to fit well into an NFL system. Many knew he would be successful if given a good offensive line.
But I don’t know if anyone thought he would be making NFL veterans eat dirt with his stiff arm in game two of his career. Yet, here we are:
What makes this play so crazy is the fact that Harris not only humiliated Raiders’ safety Johnathan Abram by throwing him to the ground, but he then proceeds to get a few more yards out of it by making some other Raiders miss.
The stiff arm from Harris looked so reminiscent of the way another Alabama back, Derrick Henry, throws defenders around like a pair of tube socks.
Harris hasn’t been able to get a rhythm yet simply because the Steelers’ offensive line is more porous than a colander. However, you can see what Harris can do in the open field if he’s given a little bit of space to operate.
Pittsburgh has struggled to maintain a running game over the past few years, which has made them one-dimensional and entirely too dependent on an aging Ben Roethlisberger to throw it 40 or more times a game. If the offensive line can gel and start making some more holes for Harris we’ll see a lot more of them plays that will have us shaking our heads.
Harris will be a good back in this league for years to come. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw more defenders hitting the deck because of Harris as his career progresses.