The Steelers had Ben Roethlisberger entering his final NFL season when they drafted Najee Harris in the first-round of the 2021draft. After that season, the Steelers started five different quarterbacks the next three seasons.
Kenny Pickett started most of the games at quarterback for the Steelers as a rookie in 2022 and in 2023. The Steelers brought in veterans Russell Wilson and Justin Fields in 2024 and now are seeking a starter for their offense for 2025.
The Steelers also had three different offensive coordinators in Harris’ time there.
Now that Harris has left to sign with the Chargers in free agency, he looks back on his time with the team as a challenge after Roethlisberger retired. That despite four 1,000-yard rushing seasons for Harris, a 38-29-1 record and three postseason appearances in four seasons.
“It was just a team where we lost Ben. We lost a lot of O-line,” Harris told KCAL, via video from Matthew Luciow. “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.
“I’m coming in, and I’m just trying to look for people to pick their brain, and it was just defensive guys. I’d go to the defensive guys and talk to them, but there wouldn’t be too much they could tell me about an offensive thing. Through my years, I learned a lot that I only learned firsthand. I feel like here we’ve got a lot of veterans [with the Chargers] I can learn even more stuff from, even at the quarterback position and the O-line position.”
Harris summed up his time in Pittsburgh as “it was interesting years there, I’ll just say that. Interesting years.”
He declined to go into more detail.
The Steelers play the Chargers at SoFi Stadium in 2025.
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