With contract negotiations seemingly stalled between the Pittsburgh Steelers and running back Najee Harris, their loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card round didn’t seem to help his case of re-signing, according to the interview with Taylor Rooks published by Blitzburgh on X.
“[Najee Harris] closed his press briefing with the following question: “Have you given much thought to whether or not you want to stay with the Steelers?” And he said, ‘I haven’t thought about it much – at all,'” Rooks reported.
After being selected with the 24th pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Harris produced four straight 1,000-yard seasons.
While some might consider this less impressive, considering the 17-game season, it’s nothing to scoff at.
However, even with those 1,000-yard seasons, his future with the team is not guaranteed.
Not only do the two sides appear no closer to a contract extension, but the state of the Harris Steelers after their Wild Card Weekend loss seemed to frustrate him.
Steelers RB Najee Harris frustrated by locker room chaos after Wild Card loss to Ravens
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While the dust was still settling after their loss to the Ravens in the Wild Card round, Harris had internal frustrations that seemed to have boiled over into his media availability on Saturday, as Rooks reported.
“I think the most interesting comments came from a visibly frustrated Najee Harris, who said guys had said things in the locker room that he didn’t necessarily mean on camera,” Rooks said, ” but it felt like throughout the losing streak, a lot of guys were letting what the media was saying seep into the locker room.
Since Harris refused to say exactly what the players were saying, there is no way to know exactly what was said.
However, considering how negative the media can be in its reporting, there are many reasons to understand why Harris was frustrated.
And after his three Wild Card outings as a member of the Steelers over four seasons, the former Alabama running back could test free agency, joining a team with less locker room chaos.
