With Jaylen Warren figuring out the Steelers have many carries to interchange, he has taken a distinct strategy throughout this offseason. After parting with Najee Harris in free company, they must make up for over 250 carries per season. Though they drafted Kaleb Johnson within the third spherical, the veteran is aware of the chance is there in entrance of him.
“I approached this offseason otherwise”, Jaylen Warren mentioned, through Dale Lolley writing for the Steelers’ web site. He added, “I did much more issues for longevity-wise, as an alternative of my old-school coaching like simply getting the cleats on and operating 30 hills. I needed to adapt. This recreation is about longevity. And like they are saying, one of the best skill is availability”.
Warren is referring to longevity not simply by way of profession span however inside a season, or inside a recreation. Though he has been one of many extra environment friendly operating backs within the NFL per carry, his carry load just isn’t overwhelmingly substantial. And that’s equally true whether or not you take a look at a full season or at particular person video games.
For his profession, Jaylen Warren has 346 carries over three seasons, throughout 48 video games. In no season has he recorded 150 or extra carries, posting a excessive of 149 in 2023. What’s extra, he has by no means rushed greater than 15 instances in a single recreation. Out of 48 profession video games, he has recorded double-digit carries all of 12 instances. That’s simply one-fourth of his video games, for these math-deficient readers.
Warren has two 100-yard dashing video games on his resume, certainly one of which took simply 9 carries. That was in 2023 when he broke off a 74-yard landing run—a recreation that the Steelers misplaced. Najee Harris carried 12 instances in that recreation for 35 yards. The offense didn’t even flip the ball over, however they only couldn’t do something, scoring 10 factors.
However Warren understands that, this 12 months, it will likely be as much as him in the beginning to be the one to do one thing. Whereas Kaleb Johnson affords promise, we don’t know but what function he’ll earn. Maybe sooner or later, even by October, he’ll earn the lion’s share of carries.
However both manner, there figures to be an elevated function for Jaylen Warren. In spite of everything, Najee Harris didn’t simply averaged 319 touches per season with the Steelers. He additionally recorded practically 3,000 snaps, even when his workload decreased as Warren’s elevated. Even final season, he logged 569 snaps, and I don’t see Johnson incomes that many.
Requested if he felt ready to tackle an even bigger function, Warren mentioned, “Little question about it, and that’s the way in which I’m coaching”. He might or might not be coaching more durable, however he’s coaching in a manner that’s totally different, that he believes higher fits the next quantity of labor over an extended time period. Up so far in his profession, he needed to prioritize maximizing his effectivity with each alternative. Now, going into 12 months 4, he takes a bigger-picture strategy.
