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The Pittsburgh Steelers opt out of Najee Harris’s contract.

During this summer, the Pittsburgh Steelers had the chance to sign running back Najee Harris through until the 2025 campaign. However, the NFL franchise has chosen not to, thus the former All-American from Alabama will be free to sign with any team the next year.

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 point for 2021 first-rounders was this Thursday at 3 p.m. CDT.

By the deadline, Pittsburgh had not made a comment regarding Harris’ option; media sites such as ESPN and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the Steelers had rejected the option.

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

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.

For the 2025 season, eight running backs have already signed contracts worth more money than that. Harris’s 2024 salary of $2.439 million places him 29th among running backs in terms of pay.

There are four designations for fifth-year options:

· Players who, in their first three seasons, were chosen for at least two Pro Bowls on the original ballot for the all-star game

Participant who has been

chosen on the initial vote for one Pro Bowl

· Players who have not made the Pro Bowl but have participated in at least 75% of the offensive or defensive snaps over the course of two seasons, or 50% of all snaps over three seasons

· Players who did not make it to the Pro Bowl or meet the requirements for playing time

Harris was a replacement player rather than an initial selection, and as such, his option money comes from the playing-time tier. Nevertheless, Harris made it to the Pro Bowl in 2021 as a rookie.

In his first three sea

In just three seasons, Harris has amassed more rushing yards and receptions than any other player in NFL history. The other two are former Auburn star William Andrews and Pro Football Hall of Fame members Edgerrin James and LaDainian Tomlinson.

A two-time 1,000-yard runner for Alabama, Harris was named a unanimous All-American, took home the Doak Walker Award as the finest back in the country, and for the Crimson Tide’s 2020 undefeated CFP national championship squad, he set an SEC single-season TD record.

sons, Harris became the 18th player in NFL history to carry for 1,000 yards in each of those seasons.

Harris has accumulated 3,269 yards and 22 touchdowns on 834 rushing attempts in addition to 866 yards and six touchdowns from 144 receptions over his NFL career.