Steelers Jaylen Warren Eager To Continue Proving Doubters Wrong With More Opportunity In 2023

Pittsburgh Steelers running back, Jaylen Warren burst onto the scene in camp in 2022 after a college career that included a few different stops. The undrafted free agent turned heads in his first NFL season displaying a skillset that should keep him employed in the league for a long time, despite the scouting community's doubts about him after he finished school.   

Proving the doubters wrong is something Warren has become accustomed to in his short career already. He told longtime Steelers beat writer Mark Kaboly of The Athletic that some of the things that got him noticed as a potentially underrated piece on Pittsburgh's roster were things he was told by NFL scouts that he lacked. 

"They [scouts] liked my downhill running, but they told me they didn’t know if I could pass-block or that they didn’t know if I could catch out of the backfield," Warren said. "To be quite honest, I didn’t know if I could do that. I knew I could catch the ball. Pass blocking, I’d always hit them but not stick with them.”

In his first year as a pro, Warren showed off the ability he knew he had catching the ball. He totaled 214 yards through the air on 28 receptions. That comes to an average of 7.6 yards per catch. San Fransisco 49ers running back, Christian McCaffrey is known league-wide as one of the top pass-catching backs and he averaged 8.7 yards in 2022. 

Warren's straight-ahead speed and quickness should continue to make him an excellent option for Kenny Pickett on screen plays or as a security blanket dump-off if nothing opens further downfield. Warren's longest reception came during Week 10 against the New Orleans Saints when Pickett didn't see anything to take advantage of in the coverage and dumped it off to his back. Warren evaded a pair of tackles getting 28 yards before being knocked out of bounds.  

Warren said he's not changing anything that has gotten him to this point and, if anything, is just pushing harder to stay the course. The biggest thing he said is using the knowledge built up in his head from year one and applying it in year two to perfect it.

Steelers Looking For More Opportunity To Release Two-Backs 

Steelers Head Coach, Mike Tomlin has become famous for wanting to have a 'bell cow' runner. In 2020, it was James Connor. It was Harris in his rookie season that got the title. With Harris' slow start due to injury, Warren got more chances to show his stuff. Eventually, he was coming to replace Harris for full series not just plays. 

The Steelers used the two on the field together very sparingly in 2022, but despite the small sample size, it was quite effective. Kaboly noted that plays with the two of them resulted in eight rushes for 57 yards. It is a small sample size for sure but if the team is looking to get both playmakers on the field, there's already some proof of concept. 

Both Harris and Warren can make plays out of the backfield so having a set where opposing teams have to worry about the two of them taking a short ball for a long gain is a scary scenario. Plus, it could open things up downfield for a single coverage throw to one of the team's other talented pass catchers. Even if it doesn't end up being on a two-running back set, the team finding more ways to involve Warren should help Harris in the long run.  

Do you like the idea of Pittsburgh using both Harris and Warren together?