Roethlisberger Told Najee Harris This Was His Final Season

[Steeler Nation]

It was widely speculated that this would be Pittsburgh Steelers‘ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s final season from the moment he took a pay cut and decided to return for 2021, to the moment he finally spoke about it. That moment didn’t come until the week leading up to his final home start at Heinz Field.

Now we know that there was at least one person who knew that this was going to be it for Roethlisberger, and that was rookie running back, Najee Harris. Harris of course was the Steelers’ first round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, someone that was supposed to take the pressure off Roethlisberger and help progress the worst rushing attack in the NFL. Harris helped, rushing for 1,200 yards on 307 attempts, but that basically concludes the Steelers 2021 rushing attack. That’s a story for another day, though.

During Super Bowl week, Najee Harris sat down with Colleen Wolfe and Steve Smith on NFL Network Live. Harris told the crew about a dinner with Roethlisberger where Roethlisberger laid it out to the rookie.

“Me coming there, I met Ben in his house. We had dinner,” Harris said. “He told me this is his last year. He said, ‘I’m going to need you to do as much as you can to make my last year special.’ I took it to heart. I tried to do everything I can to help us win.”

A specific timeline of this conversation wasn’t laid out, but we can only assume it was prior to the beginning of the season.

“We came up short a couple games, lost in the playoffs, but I can go out saying I did everything I could to help him. He went out, had a win at Heinz Field, he had a great and stellar year.”

Harris battled all season, even when the offensive line was at its worst. Harris would get pummeled behind the line of scrimmage on one play, but they’d come right back to him for a positive play on the next down. Harris ran for 188 yards in Roethlisberger’s final game at Heinz Field on Jan 3. It would be the most yards rushing in a single game all season for Harris. Harris also likely saved Roethlisberger’s season the next week in Baltimore. With the Steelers in overtime, Roethlisberger fired an off-target pass to Harris who reached back one handed to pull it in. Had he not made that play, it’s likely the Ravens would’ve intercepted and returned it for a touchdown. His career would’ve ended where it began, in Baltimore.

Not enough people are talking about this one handed catch by Najee Harris pic.twitter.com/oQ880KEXm5

— Steelers Media (@steelersketchup) January 9, 2022

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[bkwheat28]

Whether you liked taking a RB in the first or not, now that he’s here and there’s no going back, you have to admit we seem to have got one of those Special players that are winners both on and off the field. If we can get the line fixed we could have a pretty incredible player for the next several years.

 

[Steelworth]

Re: that spectacular one-handed catch by Najee, also impressive was his juke and the yards he gained after it. He did that so many times this season though I was starting to get used to it. And when Ben was mic'd up, he was talking to Najee like he was a veteran & in high regard.

Looking back, and the way the draft ended up shaking out - I'm more than okay with them taking Najee if they only ran to the podium for Creed Humphrey in the 2nd.