Times have been tough recently for former Steelers first-round RB Najee Harris. After five years in Pittsburgh, Harris left ahead of the 2025 season, hoping to find the long-term deal in free agency that had eluded him with the Steelers. 

Instead, it was a cold market for veteran running backs. Harris ended up taking a one-year deal from the Chargers for a little over $5 million — and it was actually the second-best deal signed by a free agent back in 2025, ahead of Javonte Williams, J.K. Dobbins, Rico Dowdle and others who signed “prove-it” contracts. 

Harris didn’t get the chance to make his case for a bigger deal like those other players, most of whom got big raises this offseason. He was snakebitten with injuries in 2025. First there was a freak fireworks accident in July that left him with an eye injury that sidelined him deep into training camp. Then, Harris tore his Achilles in Week 3 on a normal handoff before he even got the ball, ending his season before it had hardly begun. 

Historically, Achilles injuries have been a death knell for running backs. The recovery timeline is shorter than an ACL injury, but return to performance is far more challenging, especially for backs who are so reliant on explosiveness and short area quickness. In fact, up until very recently an Achilles injury was considered a career-ender for RBs. 

Human medicine is always improving, though, and in the last few years the league has started to see some more positive outcomes. Ravens RB Justice Hill missed the entire 2021 season with the injury, but has carved out a role as the team’s third-down back since returning. Cam Akers and D’Onta Foreman managed to hang around the league for a while after tearing their Achilles, though neither was able to sustain anything beyond flashes. Dobbins tore his Achilles in Week 1 of the 2023 season, then had a career year the following season and was solid again in 2025 with the Broncos, earning an extension. He’s definitely not as explosive as he was coming out of Ohio State but at this point, he’s the gold standard for running backs coming back from Achilles injuries. 

Harris’ road back will be more challenging because he’s a much bigger player (listed at 6-1 and over 240 pounds), which makes it harder to return to prior explosiveness. Teams will be keeping tabs on his rehab, which is probably the biggest reason he hasn’t linked up with a team yet. Both the Seahawks and Raiders had Harris in for free agent visits at the end of March to monitor his recovery, but both teams ended up spending notable draft capital on backs in a draft class that was shockingly weak at the position. 

Most teams are fairly crowded at running back, so it’s hard to find many clean fits for Harris right now. However, attrition will inevitably grind down the depth once training camp and the preseason start up, which will clarify Harris’ options. While he wasn’t explosive even before the Achilles injury, Harris does have a three-down skillset and that will broaden the number of situations he could fit into. 

Harris, 28, was a two-year starter at Alabama and was a first-team All-American and a Doak Walker Award winner as a senior. The Steelers took Harris with pick No. 24 in the 2021 draft.

Harris signed a four-year, $13,047,447 with the Steelers that includes a $6,849,053 signing bonus. The Steelers declined his fifth-year option for 2025, which would’ve cost them $6.79 million fully guaranteed, and set him up to be an unrestricted free agent in 2025.  

He signed a one-year deal worth $5,250,000 with the Chargers last offseason.

In 2025, Harris appeared in three games for the Chargers and recorded 61 rushing yards on 15 attempts and also caught three passes for 25 yards.

We have him included in our Top 100 Available NFL Free Agents list. 

Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens stand out from the pack as a potential fit for Harris. Obviously the backfield is going to run through star RB Derrick Henry, with a weekly goal of getting him 20 carries. Hill is the passing-down back and recent Day 3 picks like Rasheen Ali and Adam Randall will be competing to round out the depth chart. But if anything ever happened to Henry, the Ravens would be in a tough spot. 

Hill isn’t big enough to take on too much of Henry’s workload. Relying on Ali or Randall would be a massive gamble at this stage, even if the Ravens obviously like aspects of what they bring to the table. Harris isn’t in Henry’s stratosphere as a player, but he would give Baltimore a proven handcuff and a viable three-down replacement, which is something I don’t think you can say they have right now.

If Henry stays healthy, Harris’ touches will probably be minimal. He’s also not really a special teams contributor, which is an area guys like Ali and Randall would have a leg up on him for. All these are reasons Harris might prefer a different team where his path to touches is clearer. 

But there’s value for the Ravens in locking up an insurance policy for Henry now as opposed to later when Harris might be off the market. They also have an ace in the hole because Harris’ longtime RB coach in Pittsburgh, Eddie Faulkner, just joined the Ravens’ staff in that same capacity. He could potentially help recruit Harris on board and keep him bought in if Henry stays healthy. 

Green Bay Packers

The Packers were already playing with fire with their running back depth chart this offseason. They didn’t tender RB Emanuel Wilson or try particularly hard to keep him, and he landed with the Seahawks on a cheap deal. Green Bay re-signed RB Chris Brooks and still has former third-rounder MarShawn Lloyd still under contract, but Lloyd has not been able to get his hamstring in good enough shape to get through a single game healthy, let alone a full season. But the Packers didn’t make any outside additions of note, instead gearing up to give RB Josh Jacobs as much work as he could handle for the third straight year. 

With the news of Jacobs’ serious domestic violence charges breaking this week, including felony strangulation, the Packers are suddenly faced with the prospect of playing without their lead back for a significant chunk of the season, if not all of it. If Week 1 was Sunday, it would be Brooks leading the way with the majority of the touches. He’s a solid special teamer and No. 3 back, but he has 82 carries for 395 yards and one touchdown across three seasons. It’s hard to see that being tenable for as much as the Packers want to run the ball. 

Harris has to be healthy to help the Packers but he does have a proven history as a workhorse running back, with four straight 1,000-yard rushing seasons to start his career. Like Jacobs, he has a three-down skillset and wouldn’t have to come off the field. Asking Harris to immediately shoulder 300 touches coming off his Achilles injury might be a tall task, but the Packers don’t have a ton of great options at the moment. It’s possible they could make multiple additions at running back, especially if it ends up looking like Jacobs will be out the entire year. 

Chicago Bears

Everyone expected the Bears to blow up their backfield and get a workhorse for HC Ben Johnson’s offense last year. Instead, they kept D’Andre Swift in the fold and the only notable addition was seventh-rounder Kyle Monangai. The two were the engine for Chicago’s No. 3-ranked rushing offense, with Swift topping 1,000 yards and Monangai debuting with 169 carries, 763 yards (4.6 YPC) and five touchdowns. Both are back to try and build on that campaign. 

On the surface, that doesn’t seem to leave a lot of room for Harris. However, this staff has made it abundantly clear it doesn’t want to give the ball to No. 3 back Roschon Johnson if it can help it, which leaves the Bears in a precarious spot if either Swift or Monangai get hurt. 

Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals seem content with veteran Samaje Perine as the No. 2 back behind Chase Brown, who gets a pretty healthy workload as the starter. Perine has carved out a niche as a pass protector, receiver and short-yardage back, and the Bengals so far haven’t elected to bring in any notable challengers. But he turns 31 in September, and even in his younger days he wasn’t the most effective runner. 

If the Bengals wanted a true handcuff and insurance policy behind Brown who would be capable of stepping into the starting lineup full-time if needed, Harris would make a lot of sense. There aren’t any coaching connections but the Bengals played Harris twice a year for five years as division rivals, so there’s already a good deal of familiarity. 

Las Vegas Raiders/Seattle Seahawks

Despite both teams drafting running backs, I wouldn’t completely rule out Harris landing in either Las Vegas or Seattle, the two teams he visited with earlier this offseason. Both teams have connections to Harris on the coaching staff that I’m sure helped facilitate the visits. Raiders WR coach Zach Azzanni and QB coach Mike Sullivan overlapped with Harris in Pittsburgh, as did Seahawks WR coach Frisman Jackson. 

Seattle drafted RB Jadarian Price in the first round but the early word is that they envision him as an explosive change-of-pace weapon and not necessarily a bellcow runner. With Zach Charbonnet recovering from a February ACL repair, right now it’s Wilson from Green Bay and George Holani working in tandem with Price. It might just be me, but I’d feel a lot better about a healthy Harris stepping in for Charbonnet than the duo of Wilson and Holani. 

The Raiders drafted fourth-round RB Mike Washington to work behind star RB Ashton Jeanty, who will get as much work as he can handle from the new coaching staff. Washington ran an absurd 4.33-second 40-yard dash at 6-1 and over 230 pounds. If he’s ready to hit the ground running — literally — then the Raiders should be just fine. But if the transition to the NFL takes some time, particularly with things like pass protection, then it could make some sense for Las Vegas to revisit Harris.