Steelers Using Lesson From Le'Veon Bell, Exploiting Najee Harris' 2023 Fantasy Value

After a strong finish in 2022, the Pittsburgh Steelers found their blueprint for success on offense for the 2023. Led by a young cast of characters with a rookie quarterback in Kenny Pickett under center, the team was able to win six of their last seven games in 2022 and showed a lot of promise heading into the offseason. As a part of that promising blueprint came a basic sense of job roles within the offense and amplifying the good details while minimizing the poor areas. 

With 2023 team activities in full swing and the initial depth chart beginning to take shape, the Steelers’ offense is appearing to take learned lessons from the peak of the team's offense to avoid repeating them; as odd as that may seem.

The days of the high-flying Steelers’ offense featuring the “Killer B’s” with Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell, and Antonio Brown are just memories today in Pittsburgh. In place of them is a more methodical, possession-control based offense. Seeing as how the Steelers are reverting back to their roots on offense, it looks like they are showing they learned lessons stemming from their utilization of Bell in the offense. Looking at the team in 2023, Najee Harris is likely to be the focal point of the offense, but only in the right scenario.

On SiriusXM’s Fantasy Dirt with Michael Fabiano and Amber Theoharis, the revitalized Steelers’ 2023 offense entered their conversation. Long-time Pittsburgh beat writer, Will Graves of the Associated Press joined in the discussion. Before diving into the fantasy football aspects of the Steelers’ offense, he shed some light on how the offseason additions, cuts and re-tooling is foreshadowing what fans can expect this season.

“You look at the moves they made this offseason. Fortifying the offensive line during free agency, then going out and getting Broderick Jones to be the anchor at left tackle in the draft and getting his college teammate Darnell Washington to be effectively a sixth offensive lineman who could also double as a massive red zone target. This offense is designed to showcase Najee Harris.”

This may seem like common sense and it is a topic we’ve talked a lot about within SteelerNation. But, looking at the numbers, they help tell the story in a different light. Let’s take a look at the offensive scoring production in the last ten seasons. The highest points-per-game average came in 2014 with an average of 27.3. 

The lowest seasons came in 2019 and 2022 with an average of 18.1 points scored per game. It is no secret the offense needs to take a major step forward in 2023, but it may be closer than we think to that translating into wins. Graves alluded to that notion.

“Last year, [the offense was] designed to win games 20 to 17, which is basically what happened in the second half of the year when they got it together to finish nine and eight. I think this team is trying to win games 24 to 17.”

In thinking back to what we talked about earlier in the Steelers going back to their identity from championship-winning seasons past, Graves has a point. Even though the Steelers invested a lot in a high-power offense in the peak seasons in the past decade, the organization never won a Super Bowl. In turn, the offenses of the championship-winning 2005 and 2008 teams didn’t post averages over 25 points-per-game. 

In fact, in Roethlisberger’s sophomore season, which concluded in hoisting a Lombardi Trophy, the offense averaged 24.3 points scored per game. In 2008, it was only 21.7 points. For reference, if the Steelers scored 24 points in each game they played last season, they would’ve finished with a 12-5 record.

The Steelers Learned a Valuable Lesson From Their Le'Veon Bell Saga

One could argue that if the Steelers’ offense is able to average over 21 points per game, the sky is the limit for the team in 2023. But seeing as how Harris is poised to be the focal point, what lessons have the Steelers learned from the recent peak offensive squads and how is that playing into their utilization of Harris this year? The answer comes down to one thing: utilization. 

To position this another way, the fact that Harris holds the Steelers’ franchise record for the most receptions by a rookie and is a running back could be concerning when looking to establish a strong rush attack. We saw similar numbers in those incredible seasons with Bell and those led him to believing he was as much as a wide receiver as he was a running back. Graves thinks the Steelers learned their lesson of how to manage a bell cow ball carrier.

“This is a team that, let’s be honest, ran Le’Veon Bell into the ground. It worked out well for them during the height of the ‘Killer B’s’ days with him and Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown. But they have learned a lesson that you can’t have a guy have 400-plus touches and expect to have long-term productivity,” he explained. “I would be stunned if Najee got anywhere above 50 receptions in a season for the rest of his career to be honest with you.”

For those fans who are already starting on their fantasy big boards for 2023, Harris’ outlook may suffer from the Steelers being more cautious about their deployment of the third-year running back. In the points-per-reception (PPR) leagues, he may have lost more luster, as Jaylen Warren is looking to assume more of the receiving duties out of the backfield. Harris remains a decent option in standard scoring leagues, but he comes with an average ceiling in point totals.

This is not to say Harris’ production on the field is going to be poor. In fact, it could be another historic season for him. But for Steelers fans, this fantasy season may pose a double-edged sword in translating Harris’ teetering fantasy success onto the realistic gridiron. The Steelers will be leaning on Harris to pick up steady yards on the ground, while Warren will be the pass catcher. 

This is a recipe for success in games, but may suggest leaving Harris and Warren on the waiver wire for the earlier parts of the season. It may not be wise to use a high draft pick on a running back who is likely to operate on a 'pitch count'.

How do you think Harris will fare this fantasy season? Do you think the Steelers should utilize him more on offense than last season? Let us know in the comments below!

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