I know what you’re thinking already with the news of Stephon Tuitt’s retirement on Wednesday. “The Steelers need to sign a defensive lineman!”
I agree with that. Although, the market is a bit tricky.
There are some big names still out there like Ndamukong Suh, Baltimore’s Brandon Williams, Star Lotulelei and Gerald McCoy. But those guys are 35, 33, 32 and 34 years old, respectively. The one name that sticks out to me is 27-year-old Larry Ogunjobi, formerly of the Browns and Bengals. He’s coming off a 7-sack season but failed a physical back in March when the Bears tried to sign him as he continues to recover from a foot injury he suffered in the Bengals playoff win over the Raiders.
Outside of defensive line, there’s still one position that the Steelers haven’t addressed yet this offseason. They’ve done their due diligence in trying to rebuild the offense, but haven’t touched the running back position.
Najee Harris is the clear workhorse back. There are national football writers and analysts predicting he’s going to lead the league in rushing this year. That’s not farfetched at all.
He’s going to get plenty of carries to do so. I don’t suspect much will change with the way he’s used in 2022 as compared to his rookie season when he led all running backs in touches. But, that doesn’t come with some risk of injury and shouldn’t mean that the Steelers don’t provide him a viable backup just to spot him a couple plays here and there and let him catch his breath.
Which brings me to this…the Steelers should take a flyer on Jerick McKinnon. If that names rings a particularly strong and painful bell for you, it should. The Steelers just saw McKinnon in the Wild Card Game with the Chiefs in which he ran for 61 yards on just 12 carries (5.08 yards per carry) and caught 6 passes for 81 yards, including a receiving touchdown that got the scoring started for KC and marked the beginning of the end of all hopes for an upset victory.
He was pretty good in their other playoff games, too. He had 78 scrimmage yards against Buffalo and another 12 carries for 65 yards (5.42 per carry) and 95 total scrimmage yards against Cincinnati. That’s proof that he can still come into games and be efficient with the touches he’s given and can make dynamic plays when he gets the ball.
Now, we can’t talk about McKinnon without mentioning his injury history. He suffered a torn ACL after signing a 4-year, $30 million deal with the 49ers back in 2018. His recovery didn’t allow him to get on the field again until 2020. But he played all 16 games that year for San Francisco and then Kansas City took a chance on him last season with a one-year deal. He appeared in 13 games for them and spent 4 games on the injured reserve.
These factors make him very signable. We’re talking like one year, $1 or 2 million signable. He’s shown off great pass catching skills in his career. That’s perfect for a team that likes to use their running backs as pass catchers and also has a rookie quarterback who may play a significant amount this season who could use a running back like that as a check down option. Same goes for Mitch Trubisky as he learns Matt Canada’s offense.
Not only that, but the rushing stats in this past postseason tell me that McKinnon can jump right into a game and be effective. I’ve long thought that Benny Snell is the type of back that needs to get the bulk of the carries in order to really get in the game. He’s more of a slow burn, just like Najee. McKinnon would be different. He plays a speed game and would be a change of pace from the bruiser that Najee is.
McKinnon would be cheap, he’d be different and you’d only be asking him to take maybe 10-12 snaps per game. A great way to keep a guy healthy is not lean on him play after play.
I think the Steelers need more depth at that position just in case Najee can’t stand up to the beating all year long and to keep him fresher by going to a viable option other than him for a few plays.
McKinnon, with a history of being a starting running back, provides pedigree and the chance for something different in that backfield.
Anthony McFarland was supposed to be that “something different” but my patience is running thin there.
Even if McKinnon is merely used to catch a couple balls out of the backfield, find open space and pick up a few first downs…it’s worth it on a cheap deal, isn’t it?