Former NFL Pro Bowl linebacker Bart Scott was not happy to see what Najee Harris had to say about his former team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Harris, who did a media tour upon his arrival with the Los Angeles Chargers, hinted that he could have done more in his time with the Steelers, and on top of that, mentioned they had a natural leadership void during much of his tenure.
“It was just a team where lost Ben (Roethlisberger), we lost the O-Line, we just didn’t know anything on offense really. We didn’t have any identity. We had a young guy coming in at QB. I really didn’t have nobody to almost learn from on the offensive side,” Harris said in an interview with KCAL News. “The veteran guy on that team was a two-three year vet. He’s still learning himself. I’m coming in and looking to guys to pick their brain, and it was mostly defensive guys... so through the years, I learned a lot, but I learned it firsthand.”
Upon reflection, Harris believes there were things he could have done to elevate his game. Some of that may have been catching, but Harris' efficiency never reached the heights it did during his days at Alabama.
“My time in Pittsburgh, it was a lot of learning things, a lot of learning experiences,” Harris said. “Playing for Mike T, playing in that division, there were a lot of ways I didn’t even realize what the NFL was really about until I came to Pittsburgh. I don’t want to go into detail with it, but I feel there was a lot of stuff in my game where I could’ve elevated more and I could’ve did more. I feel like I just didn’t get it done. I feel like I was obviously missing something. … It was interesting years there, I’ll just say that. Interesting years."
Scott did not take kindly to those words from Harris. He viewed Harris' comments as a bashing of the Steelers, the team that drafted him and made him the starting running back for four years.
“You ungrateful dude. Listen, how fortunate is it for you to be in the playoffs every year of your career. I mean, that doesn’t just happen, and when you leave, sometimes you realize just how good you had it,” Scott said on ESPN.
Last week, Harris seemed to take a subtle shot at the team’s facilities, too. The Steelers were one of the lowest-graded franchises on the NFLPA survey, rating 28th of 32nd for teams. Their facilities dragged those grades down significantly.
Harris is now gone, and the Steelers do have some older figures on the offensive side of the ball at this point. For example, the quarterback will likely be one of those, though there will likely be no continuity unless Russell Wilson returns.
BETTING: Check out our guide to thebest PA sportsbooks, where our team of sports betting experts has reviewed the experience, payout speed, parlay options and quality of odds for multiple sportsbooks.