Over the last few years, the Pittsburgh Steelers struggled pretty badly to put together a competent offense. From 2022 through 2024, they ranked 23rd, 25th and 23rd in yards, and 26th, 28th and 16th in points. They were not successful throwing the ball, and they were not successful running it.
According to former Steelers running back Najee Harris, who signed with the Los Angeles Chargers in free agency, Pittsburgh’s offensive woes weren’t necessarily an accident.
“It was just a team where we lost Ben [Roethlisberger], we lost the O-line, we just didn’t know anything on offense really, we didn’t have any identity,” Harris said during an interview with local Los Angeles TV station KCAL. “We had a young guy coming in at QB. I was young. The team was young. I really didn’t have nobody to almost learn from on the offensive side. I think the veteran guy on that team was a two-, three-year vet. And he’s still learning himself.”
During Harris’ rookie season, Roethlisberger was still on the team and slinging the ball around, and the team’s offensive identity was indeed built around him — just as it had been for most of his career. That offense wasn’t too successful, either, having checked in 21st in yards and 23rd in points.
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The team Harris is joining this upcoming season was a bit better offensively, even if it wasn’t elite. The Chargers had the 20th-most yards, but the 11th-most points in the league. And Harris feels like the veteran leadership the group has will make for a better fit than the one he had with the Steelers.
“And I’m coming in and I’m just trying to look for people to pick their brain and it was just defensive guys,” Harris said of Pittsburgh. “So I’d go to the defensive guys and talk to them, but there wouldn’t be too much they could tell me about offensive things. So, through my years, I’ve learned a lot that only I learned first-hand. And I feel like [in L.A.], like we’ve got a lot of veterans that I can learn even more stuff from, even at the quarterback position, and the O-line position. So it was an interesting year there, I’ll just say that. Interesting year.”
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