The Pittsburgh Steelers‘ offense in 2023 has been one of the worst in the NFL. With quarterback struggles and the firing of offensive coordinator Matt Canada, a lot has gone wrong.
However, Pittsburgh’s run game has been a bright spot. Najee Harris has been solid, but the emergence of Jaylen Warren has been exciting for fans to watch. How has Warren got here?
Jaylen Warren’s Emergence
Warren was born on Nov. 1, 1998, in Clinton, North Carolina. As a senior, he attended East High School in Salt Lake City, Utah. During that year, he rushed for 3,099 yards and 38 touchdowns.
After his high school career, Warren would spend the next five seasons at three different universities. He played at Snow College from 2017-2018 before transferring to Utah State from 2019-2020 and finally at Oklahoma State in 2021.
Warren’s most successful season came in 2021 when he rushed for 1,216 yards and 11 touchdowns for the Cowboys. His career stats over his five seasons was 4,488 yards and 86 touchdowns on 706 attempts. He also added 63 receptions for 600 yards.
After college, Warren went undrafted in the 2022 NFL Draft, signing with the Steelers as a UDFA. On the flip side, Pittsburgh selected Harris in Round 1 of the 2021 NFL Draft.
In his three-year career, Harris has rushed for 2,957 yards and 18 touchdowns on 762 attempts, just a 3.9 average per attempt. Warren, however, has had 196 attempts for 1,031 yards and four touchdowns, an average of 5.3 yards per attempt.
A majority of Warren’s work has come in 2023, though. He has 119 carries for 652 yards and three touchdowns. He also has 47 receptions for 300 yards.
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Warren’s emergence has, inherently, taken a hit into Harris’ work load.
Harris, who received 307 and 272 carries in his last two seasons, respectively, has just 183 heading into Week 16 of this year.
In 2023, Harris has just 723 yards and four touchdowns. He’s crossed the 1,000-yard mark in each of the last two seasons, as well as having seven touchdowns in each.
Yet, those thresholds look steep for Harris to accomplish this time around with three games to go.
Warren is one of the most recent undrafted free agent Cinderella stories, following in the tracks of Phillip Lindsay and James Robinson most recently. Those two both rushed for 1,000 yards in a single season.
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