Najee Harris extremely critical of Steelers offense

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been one of the NFL's worst — and dullest — offensive teams over the past six years, and one of the players leaving the organization this offseason offered a really concerning criticism about what the team is doing on that side of the ball. Or more accurately, what it is not doing.

In an interview with KCAL, running back Najee Harris, who signed a one-year deal in free agency with the Los Angeles Chargers, talked about how young the Steelers offense was for most of his four years with the team and the challenges that created when it came to learning about offense in the NFL.

Said Harris: 

“It was just a team where we lost Ben [Roethlisberger]. We lost a lot of O-line. We just didn’t know anything on offense, really. We didn't have any identity. We had a young guy coming in at quarterback. 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 like a two- three-year vet. He’s still learning himself."

Harris also added that he is looking to pick the brains of every veteran player in Los Angeles that he can, and that his four years in Pittsburgh were "very interesting."

Harris has always been a player that will speak candidly and not sugarcoat things, and this is just the latest example of that. 

On one hand, the main focus of his comment here is that the offense was just incredibly young early on his career. And it was. It was mostly players on their initial NFL contracts still learning their way in the league, and there was not a lot of leadership on that side of that ball. 

But this is not the first time a player has left the Steelers and commented on the shortcomings of the offense or how much they were able to learn while in Pittsburgh. 

When wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster left Pittsburgh to sign with the Kansas City Chiefs, he commented that he had learned more about offense in his first five months under Andy Reid than he did in his four years with the Steelers. 

The fact it is this many years later and players are still leaving without really learning anything about offense is very problematic, and not a good look on head coach Mike Tomlin or the front office. 

There is an obvious talent issue on that side of that ball, especially at quarterback, and that is always going to hold things back. That still does not explain why players are not learning more, and it certainly points to an issue with the offensive coaching and the system the team is trying to run.

The Steelers have gone through multiple offensive coordinators during that time, including Matt Canada and currently Arthur Smith. 

The Steelers have not ranked higher than 12th in points scored since the 2018 season, and have ranked 21st or lower in four of the six seasons since then. They finished 16th this season with Russell Wilson and Justin Fields at quarterback, but even that was not close to good enough. 

If you are going to succeed on offense in the NFL you either need to have a great quarterback or a great system. Ideally you would have both. The Steelers have had neither.