Alabama’s Najee Harris taking Steelers by storm
Rookie running back Najee Harris is taking both the Steelers and Steelers Nation by storm.
In fact, the Alabama dasher and basher is so popular and infused with such a plethora of Pittsburgh’s hopes and dreams, he’s poised to surpass Big Ben Roethlisberger as the face of this historic football franchise.
Najee is the new ‘Anointed One’ in the Pigskin Promised Land of Pittsburgh.
But he’s not the only Steelers’ rookie looking to step up. A changing of the guard is occurring all over the Steelers’ roster.
You have a new rookie center, Kendrick Green, who claimed the jersey number – 53 — just vacated by future Hall of Famer Maurkice Pouncey. All this, at a conner stone position that’s been occupied by a long line of Steelers’ legends dating back to the dominate Mike Webster.
Green claiming the justretired Pouncey’s number is sure to raise some eyebrows in the Steel City. Yet, Green is on a path to become, if not another Pouncey, perhaps the next Dermontti Dawson, who earned his gold jacket in Canton by sheer force of will – and a hell of a lot of hard work.
Then there’s Penn State product Pat Freiermuth. The rookie tight end may be known by his personally hated nickname, “Baby Gronk.” But with the black and gold, he’s looking to replace the much-loved Heath Miller in the hearts of Steelers’ fans.
The Steelers’ faithful loved to bellow a guttural groan of ‘Heath’ from on high in the Heinz Field stands. This rumble of a roar rained down anytime Miller caught a pass.
Fast-forward to this fall and to Freiermuth’s first reception in front of the hometown crowd, and you can almost hear the bass-baritone moans of “Muth” rumbling those Heinz Field rafters.
Yet, Freiermuth might be closer in comparison to his fellow Penn State alumn, Jesse James, who we all now know actually did score that touchdown that should’ve beat the Patriots in Pittsburgh a few seasons back, prompting the NFL to rewrite its catch rules.
In this edition of your Steelers Update Podcast, we do a deep dive on the sky-high expectations for these another new Steelers, along with more reality-based assessments for what this new-look team is capable of this season. The first practices are now in the books, and I’ve assembled all the best analysis for what the future holds in this Pittsburgh prognostication edition of the podcast. So listen up, Steelers’ fans!
NOTE: New episodes of the Steelers Update are available every Wednesday afternoon on PennLive.com and wherever podcasts are found, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Podcasts.
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Rookie running back Najee Harris isn’t just the new kid on the block. He’s Steelers savior the likes of which we haven’t seen since Mean Joe Greene was installed as the cornerstone building block of all those 1970s Super Bowl teams.
Najee was the guy Steelers Nation coveted in the draft. And he fills a huge need after the Steelers, a team that once prided itself on running the football, but just could not get it done in 2020.
Best of all, Najee is thus far more than living up to his pre-draft billing:
Meanwhile, Big Ben Roethlisberger came up small in 2020, as his short-passcrazy offense got stifled, and an 11-0 Steelers’ start disintegrated into one-and-done in the playoffs. In the ashes, Roethlisberger looked every bit his 39 years.
In fact, Big Ben could already be fading away:
The Steelers and Big Ben could kneecap Najee in his path to Pittsburgh fame should they decide to keep throwing those short passes when the Steelers need only to pick up a yard or two. The question remains, will passhappy Pittsburgh really get back to the run?
Perhaps, the Steelers will simply throw it to Najee, as well as run it:
Certainly, his college stats showed Najee is a legit dual threat:
Either way, Najee should eat and eat well in that new Steelers offensive — just not the 40 touches some sensationalists are forecasting:
After all, coaches better save some footballs for your new Steelers’ tight end who comes with a Penn State pedigree. He looks pretty good. Just don’t call him, “Baby Gronk”:
There will be an ongoing debate whether rookie center Kendrick Green is the next Maurkice Pouncey (his jersey number namesake) or the new Dermontti Dawson. Either way, both he and the Steelers win if Green even comes close to matching either of that pair of Hall of Famers’ level of play:
Needless to say, the pre-season expectations of Steelers Nation are sky-high, as usual. But the view from outside Pittsburgh is diametrically opposed to all this 412 area code optimism. Check it out:
So what gives, and who’s right?
Only time — and to a very large extent, new face of the franchise Najee Harris — will tell.