Steelers made a ‘business decision’ on Najee Harris, NFL team’s general manager says

The Pittsburgh Steelers had an easy opportunity this offseason to lock up running back Najee Harris for the 2025 NFL season. The NFL team passed on it.

But Steelers general manager Omar Khan said that didn’t necessarily mean the former Alabama All-American would not be with Pittsburgh past the 2024 campaign.

“It was a business decision that we had to make, I think, by May 2,” Khan said during an appearance on Thursday on KDKA-FM in Pittsburgh. “But Najee’s awesome to have around here. Love Najee as a player and a person. Just because we didn’t pick it up doesn’t exclude us from doing something with Najee for the long-term. I’d love to say Najee was here and had a long career in Pittsburgh. He really represents us well on the field and off the field. But it was just one of those things we had to make a decision on. We just felt right now that was the right decision for everyone. But I love Najee and would love to have him here long-term.”

Harris, the 24th pick overall in the 2021 NFL Draft, signed a four-year, $13.047 million contract with the Steelers.

A four-year contract with a fifth-season team option is signed by each first-round draft selection. However, that option must to be used prior to the player’s fourth season. The cutoff time for 2021 first-round contenders was 3 p.m. May 2, CDT.
The fifth-year option would have guaranteed Harris a salary of $6.79 million for the 2025 campaign, but it would have tied Harris to Pittsburgh for an additional season. This represents the mean of running back wages from the third to the twentieth highest for the previous five seasons.

Harris’s 2024 salary of $2.439 million places him 30th among running backs.