PITTSBURGH — It's true: You can find serviceable running backs anywhere.
Also true: You don't need a stud back to win the Super Bowl. Of the past 13 Super Bowl champs, just three featured a 1,000-yard rusher.
But that doesn't mean you look a gift Harris in the mouth.
If a major talent drops into your lap — the way Leonard Fournette landed in Tampa Bay (cheap free agent deal) or Nick Chubb in Cleveland (35th pick) — you gratefully accept. Especially if you're the Steelers, knowing you've always done your best work with a big-time ball carrier in the building.
In other words, if Alabama's Najee Harris falls to the Steelers at No. 24 in the NFL draft, they should use approximately one second of their 10-minute allotment to make the pick.
Harris is everything the Steelers and coach Mike Tomlin value in a back. He is tough, explosive, elusive, dependable, sure-handed (one lost fumble in the past two years), and versatile. He protects the quarterback. He catches the ball. He leaps defenders in a single bound.
He's a ready-made star, is what he is. The perfect player to take some pressure off the quarterback.
"I call him Derrick Henry 2.0," USC great Reggie Bush said on Fox College Football. "If you think about Derrick Henry, he's one of the most feared running backs in the NFL because of his size and the ferociousness with how he attacks the hole and attacks linebackers. Najee Harris can do all those things — and he can jump over people and also has routes, has hands. He can do a lot of different things."
I don't want to get too crazy here. One big difference between Alabama stars Henry and Harris is breakaway speed. Henry rips off the long ones — the 70-, 80- and, yes, 99-yard runs. Harris hasn't shown that. But neither, for the most part, did Franco Harris, Jerome Bettis or Le'Veon Bell in their Steelers careers. They all had plenty of years where their longest runs were in the 30s or 40s.
That doesn't mean Harris lacks burst. In fact, ESPN's Alex Scarborough used an interesting stat in describing him as "by far the most explosive running back to play under (Nick) Saban at Alabama, with 128 career rushes of 10 or more yards — 40 of which have come this season (before the College Football Playoff)."
Again avoiding crazy — I'm staying vigilant here — Harris shares key traits with the aforementioned Steelers greats. He is the exact same size as Franco Harris (6-2, 230) with similarly deceptive quickness. He has unusually fast feet for a big man with tree-trunk legs, a la Jerome Bettis, and he has Bell-like versatility in that he isn't just a check-down option. He can beat people in coverage and make wide receiver-like catches.
If you're thinking Harris rolled up fancy numbers merely on account of a massive line and creampuff competition, you're wrong. I mean, he did some of that, but he broke tons of tackles and did his best work in the biggest games. Google him and watch for yourself.
I'm no advocate of sinking huge money into running backs, but the big money comes in the second deal, not the first. A back needs an effective line in front of him, of course, and a coaching staff that believes in the run game and knows how to execute one. There are no guarantees on that front.
Linemen are the same as running backs in this way: You can find them in all kinds of places, but if you get a chance to take a star, you take him. If the Dolphins (18th pick) or Jets (23rd) don't snag Harris, I'm thinking he'll still be on the board at No. 24.
And I'm thinking the Steelers would be fools to let him pass.
