Before the season began, Steelers rookie running back Najee Harris sat down and made some personal goals. One was to record 1,000 yards rushing in his first NFL season.
Now, sitting at 984 yards rushing and set to eclipse the mark in the Steelers' next game Monday night against the Browns, Harris has a different feeling about the goal.
"I sit in my house and I wonder about that too. I don’t know," Harris said Friday when asked about getting to the milestone and what it means. "I think it’s a good milestone but I don’t know if it will really mean something the way I got the 1,000 yards. It’s an ugly 1,000 yards, I guess you could say. But I don’t know."
It's been an ugly 1,000 yards for Harris largely because it's been an ugly season in many respects for the Steelers.
The team's first-round draft pick, Harris was brought in to help kickstart the team's rushing attack, which ranked 32nd in the NFL a year ago at 84.4 yards per game and 3.6 yards per rushing attempt.
It's been better this season with Harris handling the majority of the running, but not markedly. The Steelers (7-7-1) enter Week 17 of the season 29th in the NFL in rushing at 87.6 yards per game. And their average per carry is up slightly at 3.8 yards per attempt.
But it's not been what Harris, the first running back selected in this year's draft, imagined. Not at all.
This despite the fact that he's fifth in the NFL in rushing and leads all rookies with 1,406 yards from scrimmage -- the most in team history for a rookie. He also has already set the team rookie record for receptions in a season with 67 and needs 71 yards against the Browns to break Franco Harris' team rookie rushing record.
None of that will matter to Harris, however, if the Steelers don't make the playoffs.
In fact, he admitted that at some point in the season, he changed his goals to more team-oriented ones.
"I guess it did. Obviously hitting 1,000 yards, that will be cool. I guess later in the season, I switched it to just helping improve together as a team because we’re so young," Harris said. "I guess I never realized how young we were. I knew that focusing on other issues rather than just personal things like helping out the team, helping out all the other rookies. It wasn’t too long ago, Pat (Freiermuth) was scared to walk out of the tunnel. It’s a lot of things just being a captain I guess or something."
Harris isn't officially a captain, but it's been obvious throughout this season that Ben Roethlisberger has been grooming him for that role in the future. The two often have discussions on the side before, during and after practice and games.
Roethlisberger, an 18-year veteran who said earlier this week that he's likely playing his final season, is trying to bestow as much knowledge on the 23-year-old running back as he can.
This whole season has been a learning process not just for Harris, but -- to Harris' point about the youth of the Steelers offense -- the entire group. The Steelers have started more rookies on offense than any other team in the league Harris at running back, Freiermuth at tight end, Dan Moore at left tackle and Kendrick Green at center.
All told, the Steelers have 54 games started by rookies on offense this season, by far the most in the NFL. The next-closest team is the Jets with 40.
And with young players, come mistakes. Though he's closing in on 1,000 rushing yards, Harris has been learning along the way, as well, which includes sometimes not taking what is there and looking to turn a sure short gain into a longer one, something that sometimes results in a negative play.
"I think there's some truth in that," said offensive coordinator Matt Canada. "Najee is such a great competitor. He's done so much and we're giving him so many opportunities and so many touches because we have such a belief in his ability. He wants to win and he's trying to do everything he can."
That's perhaps the biggest reason Harris isn't thumping his chest about getting to 1,000 yards. If he gets to that mark on Monday and the Steelers don't win, it will be a hollow milestone.
A loss would mean the Steelers have no shot at the postseason.
That's why he's looking at it differently than he did even a few months ago.
"When you’re there and in the moment, you just want to do more than just have 1,000 yards," Harris said. "It’s how you go about the 1,000 yards that’s different than you imagined. Now I’m here and I’m close to it, I don’t know if it’s the same."
He also knows there are some plays that he's left on the field. But he also knows that while he's been trying to help his fellow rookies get through this season, there will be things he can still learn, as well.
And he's had so many touches -- 335 and counting -- to go over when this season finally ends, that there will be a lot of teachable moments.
"I think one thing I can take away is the amount of film I’ve got to improve on from last year. That’s the one good thing about having 1,000 yards," Harris said. "There’s a lot of plays I can get better at. There’s a lot of film I have for myself. I can improve a lot better. I don’t think it’s so much about the yards as it is the plays I can get better at."
The fact he's gotten 335 touches and continued to roll along in itself is a positive. One of the biggest reasons the Steelers decided to move on from former starter James Conner was a lack of durability.
Conner was and is talented. His 14 rushing touchdowns this season for the Cardinals are second-most in the NFL. But he also got nicked up all too often when he played for the Steelers, missing 14 full games and large chunks of others in four seasons with the Steelers.
The best ability, as coaches often say, is availability. Harris has continually answered the bell this season for the Steelers.
And he and his teammates expect him to use this season as a learning tool to propel him to bigger and better things.
"Najee is the ultimate competitor," said center J.C. Hassenauer, who played with Harris at Alabama. "I knew it my senior year, his freshman year in college. He’s the definition of a hard worker. Everything you want in a running back, everything you want in a teammate is Najee. He’s one of the most talented players I’ve been with. His work ethic, he’s not been given anything. He’s worked for everything."