Steelers 2024 Offseason Thread

[dodint]

Good. He's as replaceable as a AA battery.

[mikey]

In Chapter 5000 of me not understanding NFL transactions...

How do you know that already? What if he has a 2000 yard season? Or is this just to put him in a faux contract year situation?

[dodint]

How many RBs are worth signing after their initial contract? 1 or 2 per year?

[mikey]

Yeah, I'm not doubting the science of it or the general replace-ability of running backs...I guess I just don't get why that's an announcement (period) or why it's happening before the season starts...unless there's a deadline for it that I'm also not aware of...which is entirely possible, of course...

[nocera]

I can’t believe they didn’t pick up Justin Fields’ 5th year option.

[Troy Loney]

Yeah, I'm not doubting the science of it or the general replace-ability of running backs...I guess I just don't get why that's an announcement (period) or why it's happening before the season starts...unless there's a deadline for it that I'm also not aware of...which is entirely possible, of course...

They have to decide today

[Troy Loney]

In Chapter 5000 of me not understanding NFL transactions...

How do you know that already? What if he has a 2000 yard season? Or is this just to put him in a faux contract year situation?

In that case they could franchise tag him after this year.

But, the 5th year option would have been like 6mm, seems like a small number. But yeah, he’s not even the best rb on the team, might be better to just let him walk in fa and get draft compensation.

And they also made the point that they want to see how he does in the new offense before committing. I think that makes them both free agents after this year, so pretty clearly they only want to pay 1

[mikey]

Yeah, I'm not doubting the science of it or the general replace-ability of running backs...I guess I just don't get why that's an announcement (period) or why it's happening before the season starts...unless there's a deadline for it that I'm also not aware of...which is entirely possible, of course...

They have to decide today

Ah, ok...that makes a lot of sense then...

[tifosi77]

Running back has become such a weird position in recent years, in terms of trying to make sense of how the finances and roster allocations work.

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

[Trip McNeely]

I can’t believe they didn’t pick up Justin Fields’ 5th year option.

They will work out a longer term deal at a much lower cap than the 5th year option would be

There’s a chance they do the same for Najee, although doubtful

[Troy Loney]

I can’t believe they didn’t pick up Justin Fields’ 5th year option.

They will work out a longer term deal at a much lower cap than the 5th year option would be

There’s a chance they do the same for Najee, although doubtful

There was no reason to commit 20+mm to Fields for '25, and that's why that decision was announced immediately.

They have like 100mm in cap space next year, I think it's weird that they didn't want to commit the 6mm to Najee. But I am guessing that the path forward is to pay one of Warren/Najee and let the other walk and get draft compensation. And I think out of those two, if the plan is to pay 1 RB, then that should be Warren.

I listened to the daily steelers' podcast today about the najee decision with a post-gazette guy and some female reporter. They barely alluded to Warren in the conversation. They were talking about **** like motivating Najee and does Khan want to get rid of all of Colbert's first round picks. And when the notion of Najee leaving so Warren can be the #1 was considered, it was just like "would Warren be effective with Najee's workload".

Between carries and receptions, they were a 57-43 split. Never not amazed at how bad sports commentary is.

[dodint]

My only issue with Warren is that he seems to fumble a good bit. But that could be selective memory. If his workload increases and he continues to protect the ball at the same rate it might be a problem.

*edit*

For 2023:
He had 4 fumbles on 149 attempts.
Harris had 2 fumbles on 255 attempts.

Warren had 1 fumble in 77 attempts his rookie year.

[Pavel Bure]

Running back has become such a weird position in recent years, in terms of trying to make sense of how the finances and roster allocations work.

I disagree pretty hard here. Mike Shannahan had RBs figured out 20 some years ago. A good O-line can make nearly any RB look good. That’s why we got Clinton Portis for Champ Bailey. Look at all the str RBs of the past 20 years. Except some very special exceptions they fall off a cliff pretty quickly after a couple good years. Build a good O-line and the running back almost doesn’t matter. It certainly doesn’t matter enough to pay them huge money.

[tifosi77]

But that's something that's only become a League-wide (mostly) mindset in the past......... maybe 5 years? Lots of teams were ready to pay star RBs $15 million to do the job of maybe three roster spots making $6 mil combined. That's more what I'm talking about, not tying that production to 'a' player, but realizing it's worth the roster spots to have more of a committee approach to the position rather than the one workhorse. There were only a couple teams evaluating the position like that as recently as like 5-6 years ago.

Najee Harris is one of I think only 15 or 16 running backs in the entire history of the National Football League to start a career with three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, and he's talked about in here like he's a bum.

[dodint]

He's not a bum but his chosen profession is expendable.

[willeyeam]

gross yards for a RB is such a bad stat, and even worse when comparing someone who only played in the 17 game era vs history

[Pavel Bure]

But that's something that's only become a League-wide (mostly) mindset in the past......... maybe 5 years? Lots of teams were ready to pay star RBs $15 million to do the job of maybe three roster spots making $6 mil combined. That's more what I'm talking about, not tying that production to 'a' player, but realizing it's worth the roster spots to have more of a committee approach to the position rather than the one workhorse. There were only a couple teams evaluating the position like that as recently as like 5-6 years ago.

Najee Harris is one of I think only 15 or 16 running backs in the entire history of the National Football League to start a career with three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, and he's talked about in here like he's a bum.

He also had an extra game each season to get those stats. 1000 yards isn’t that special anymore IMO.

[King Colby]

Hes not a bum, but he's a dime a dozen player at an easy to fill position

[Troy Loney]

There’s only one running back that deserves that money though.

I like Najee, I don’t think he’s easily replaceable, but we’re not replacing him, we’re replacing Warren’s role.

[faftorial]

But that's something that's only become a League-wide (mostly) mindset in the past......... maybe 5 years? Lots of teams were ready to pay star RBs $15 million to do the job of maybe three roster spots making $6 mil combined. That's more what I'm talking about, not tying that production to 'a' player, but realizing it's worth the roster spots to have more of a committee approach to the position rather than the one workhorse. There were only a couple teams evaluating the position like that as recently as like 5-6 years ago.

Najee Harris is one of I think only 15 or 16 running backs in the entire history of the National Football League to start a career with three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, and he's talked about in here like he's a bum.

Well, there were only 12 games per year in the 70's.

[JC2]

59 yds/gm average?

That mostly points to his durability - which is great - but not his talent... especially when this has been a run first team for the past few years.

[tifosi77]

Right........................ I think only a couple of the RBs on that list did so in 14 games, so even if you call it one of 14 RBs in the last 45 years to gain 1000 yards in their first three seasons that's still standout.

A thousand yards in 'a' season is not all that special, no. A thousand yards in each of a player's first three season is not meh.

[willeyeam]

I like Najee and wouldn't have hated them picking up the option (would have put him at the 12th highest paid RB in the league which isn't far off imo) - but he's what, maybe a top half RB in the league? standout is being very generous

[Troy Loney]

I think what makes the most sense to me is that they don’t want to pay two backs. They will need to pay Warren after this year. This is a commitment to Warren, who is just more dynamic and probably fits better to what smith wants to do. And I know that Najee is more ~ like Henry, but that doesn’t mean that’s what smith wants to do again?