State of the Steelers: A new running back and ... a fullback? taken on the South Side (Steelers)

KARL ROSER / STEELERS

Derek Watt

The Steelers have made no bones about what their intentions were for 2021 when they selected running back Najee Harris in the first round of the draft.

They plan to run the football better.

They didn't use a first-round pick on Harris to not use him, so he figures to get the bulk of the carries. Beyond that, well, it's a little more cloudy.

"I think we are so far away from the season and how we are going to hand out reps and those things," first-year offensive coordinator Matt Canada said. "It is personnel driven based on who we play. It’s play driven based on the best plays of the week. Obviously, we are very happy with all of our running backs right now. 

"Again, I’m really pleased with efforts that we made trying to come together and put together an offense as a staff and then our players adapted and done well. Faulk (running backs coach Eddie Faulkner) has done well with that entire group and how those things come out in the fall is yet to be determined."

Figuring out the pecking order behind Harris and exactly how the Steelers, who finished dead last in the NFL running the ball last season, will deploy some of their formations will be a big part of the team's training camp, which kicks off next week.

James Conner, the team's leading rusher the past three seasons, is gone, having signed a free agent deal with the Cardinals.

Benny Snell, Jaylen Samuels and Anthony McFarland all return, but averaged 3.1 yards per carry as a group last season. The team also added free agent Kalen Ballage in the offseason to be a veteran challenger for a backup spot.

And then there is fullback Derek Watt.

Signed to a three-year, $9.75-million contract last year, Watt played just 52 offensive snaps in 2020. He did play 213 special teams snaps -- another big reason he was signed -- but he missed all of last offseason and most of training camp while recovering from an ankle surgery and then missed four games because of injuries, including a concussion.

Because he missed so much of the preseason practices and was nicked up, the Steelers never really found a comfort zone with Watt last season. But he's been a full participant throughout the offseason process this year.

And Canada helped convert Watt from a linebacker to fullback when he was offensive coordinator at Wisconsin in 2012, so he's more than aware of what Watt might be able to add to the offense now that he's healthy.

The question nobody seems to be able to answer -- even those who clamor for more use of the fullback in the Steelers offense -- who they should take off the field to do so. The team has a bevy of good receivers in Diontae Johnson, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chase Claypool and James Washington and two good receiving tight ends in Eric Ebron and rookie Pat Freiermuth.

"I’ve got a history with Derek and I think Derek’s a really, really good player," Canada said. "I believe, to the point of matchups and personnel changes and giving the defense more things to worry about and to look at, it is always a benefit for you, as an offense, if the production is there, if there’s a reason to do it. Having Derek and his ability to play is great. 

"You mentioned the wideouts, the tight ends, the backs. Our job as a staff is to come into a game plan, find the matchups and where they are, and I think he definitely fits into that in certain weeks, in certain times. And having that luxury as far as play design and what we can do gives us a lot of options."

But the focus for the Steelers won't be on how successful or how much Watt plays on offense. The Steelers' success will largely depend on how successful Harris is in his first season.

The Steelers feel Harris is a Le'Veon Bell-type of three-down back, one capable of being an every-down player and boosting their running game and young offensive line by himself.

According to Pro Football Focus, the 230-pound Harris ranked second in the nation last season in yards after contact with 721 and in forced missed tackles with 71. He also dropped just one of the 53 passes on which he was targeted.

"What Najee can do in a game at receiver is something we are very excited about," Canada said. "I’m not going to get into how much we are going to do that or what we are going to do, but you are asking about his skillset, I’m sure you have watched film from Alabama and the way he was used in the passing game and the running game. And his football intelligence is really, really high. His ability to learn has been awesome to come in and see. 

"I think he’s going to have a tremendous season and a tremendous career because of his skillset, his work ethic, and his football intelligence."

It could add up to more power running and less of the finesse we've seen in recent years. What that might look like, however, remains to be seen.

The Steelers were in a shotgun or pistol formation 83 percent of the time in 2020, the fourth-most in the NFL. And they ran plays from a single-back formation 83 percent of the time, which was 13th-most in the league.

Some have suggested Ben Roethlisberger needs to be under center more often for the team to effectively run the football. But that's not necessarily the case. One of the teams ahead of them in terms of shotgun usage was the Colts, who were a top-10 rushing team despite having a quarterback in Philip Rivers who has never been confused with being a mobile quarterback.

"We have gone under center, we have shotgun, he has more motion," Roethlisberger said of Canada's offense. "But I feel like that is where the NFL is going right now, a lot of the jet sweep motions and stuff. I can go under center, I never said I didn’t like it. We will be in the gun, we will move. We will throw a lot of different looks and schemes and things at people and see what works."

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