Steelers first round pick Najee Harris has already impressed.
Yes, we’ve only seen him in practices, OTA’s and minicamps.
Football in shorts, if you will.
But between videos of him showing his fast feet in cone drills and pictures of him making one handed catches while being blanketed in coverage, the Alabama running back has turned heads.
Steelers beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Ray Fittipaldo joined The Fan Morning Show and revealed why he’s hopping aboard the Najee Harris hype train as well.
“Is it too much hype? His athleticism and his skills are the best I’ve seen in a while. Really, since Le’Veon Bell was here,” said Ray.
Fan Morning Show host Colin Dunlap immediately reacted to that comment, accusing Ray of heaping lofty expectations on Harris just like everyone else is, possibly prematurely. Ray can’t help it.
“In some ways, he’s a little bit more athletic than Le’Veon was. I don’t want to do it to the kid. I just think, and this is a big if, if the line can be decent, if the line can be good, he’s going to have an awesome season. A lot of this hinges on the line so hopefully they can get that straighten out.
But that guy has a chance to be special if they build around him and they block for him.”
Speaking of that offensive line that could be the key to Harris’ success, Ray commented on David DeCastro’s absences from practices by saying the Steelers will be careful with him this offseason through training camp because he got hurt during that time last year. He doesn’t believe that anything serious is going on with DeCastro at this point, although the Steelers have been tight-lipped about his status to this point.
Ray also thinks Zach Banner will be “solid” at right tackle this year and Chuks Okorafor “has a chance to be solid” at left tackle. He doesn’t expect either to make a Pro Bowl, but says the Steelers can get by with those two.