Jaylen Warren might be the lead dog in the Steelers’ running back room now, but he takes nothing for granted. As he told reporters yesterday, he still has the same approach, trying to earn a spot every year. Even as the Steelers pay him over $5 million to play, he is ready to just do as the coaches tell him.
Asked if the Steelers have given him any indications that his role would expand or how they plan to use him this season, Warren flatly said, “No”, via the team’s website. Yet without Najee Harris in the facility anymore, it would seem that something has to change.
For his entire career, Jaylen Warren has worked in a two-back rotation with Najee Harris. The Steelers let Harris leave in free agency and drafted Kaleb Johnson, but the latter is, of course, a rookie. He is a rookie eager to learn, especially from Warren about pass protection, but there’s more to it than that.
While he didn’t provide any insight into the Steelers’ plans at running back, Warren did offer some general thoughts. Asked about a committee approach, he agreed “100 percent” that such a strategy is beneficial. “Especially with the people we’ve got in the room right now? One hundred percent”.
Of course, nobody is going to say that the teammates they currently have put all the burden on their own shoulders. But at least on paper, that isn’t the case for Jaylen Warren. Kaleb Johnson seems like a rookie who can step provide quality snaps right away. The Steelers also signed veteran Kenneth Gainwell, who has a diverse skill set. At least for now, they even still have Cordarrelle Patterson, and Trey Sermon.
One thing worth noting is that Jaylen Warren has never played full-time snaps before. Throughout his career, he has only logged 60 percent of the offensive snaps or more twice, never reaching 70 percent. His career high in carries is only 15, his high in touches 17.
While one can readily argue that’s only because that is how the Steelers chose to use him, it still makes projecting a larger workload more challenging. Jaylen Warren has just 1,308 offensive snaps in three seasons, with 346 carries, and 473 touches. He is basically seeing half the work that your typical clear No. 1 RB would see.
But we can also reasonably assume the Steelers didn’t draft Kaleb Johnson to sit on the bench. He is a player who fits OC Arthur Smith’s scheme well, arguably better than Warren. Some reporters even think the team has no intention of re-signing Warren after this season.
Still, the Steelers can’t paint a clear picture of the distribution of responsibilities in June, not with a rookie involved. They have to learn about Johnson first before they know how much he can take on and how soon. That will help determine what they need from Jaylen Warren, and from Kenneth Gainwell. But the real question is, how much can Warren give without diminishing returns?
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