Welcome to the terrible take a daily segment telling Steelers nation what's on our mind. I'm Ross McCorkle. I'm not going to hold back my concerns over the declining of Naji Harris's fifth year option. I get there are a number of factors that went into the decision, nearly $7 million fully

guaranteed to a position that continues to see its value decline across the league.

The new offensive system under Arthur Smith, which is going to be more east-west testing defenses horizontally, which may not be best suited to

Nagee Harris's skill set, and obviously the emergence of undrafted free agent Jhelum Warren plays a role into this.

My biggest concern is that last point.

Yes, Warren has been more efficient with the ball on a per snap basis and probably Fitzsmith's wide zone run scheme a little better, but it isn't always a safe assumption that one half of the committee can continue with their success in the absence of the other.

The best example of this is from the Dallas Cowboys over the last couple years.

Tony Pollard emerged in Ezekiel Elliot's final year in Dallas has a legitimate threat with over

1,000 rushing yards and 12 total touchdowns.

Elliot received slightly more touches that season in 2022, but Pollard was much more efficient

with 5.9 yards per touch compared to Elliot's 3.9.

The following year in 2023 with Elliot gone, Pollard got about a 30% bump in volume of touches,

but his efficiency plummeted.

He saw a small decrease in his total scrimmage yards and Dallas's offense wasn't nearly as

effective at least on the ground. They even had a couple other options in RICO

Dowdle and Duce Vaughn but it wasn't so easy to replace what Elliot brought to

the team. There are other factors involved like the offensive lines starting to fall apart and take a step back from their the rebuild nearly complete and ready to start paying dividends.

Still I can't help but feel like the offense would be better off with both of them in the committee in 2025

and Harris's option really wasn't that expensive in the grand scheme of things,

especially as the salary cap continues to balloon to new heights.

Be sure to follow us at Steelers Depot.com and check out the episodes of the terrible

take every day at 5 p.m. Eastern time.

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