(Photography from Steelers.com)
One of the most hyped-up rookies in the NFL has already walked into Pittsburgh and is already turning heads in regards to his work ethic. For those that have watched Najee Harris's time when he was in Alabama, his work ethic should not come as a surprise. Harris was one of the most dominant running backs Alabama has seen alongside Derrick Henry. In fact, Harris was so dominant he broke Henry's rushing record in Alabama. Just look and see what Derrick Henry has been able to do during his time in the NFL...
Steelers running back coach Eddie Faulkner sat down with the media yesterday to discuss his time with Najee Harris in Pittsburgh so far. Faulkner has only had Harris for a little over a month now and he is already impressed with what he is seeing from the rookie running back. One of the things he needs to start teaching Harris is to find some downtime because it seems like Harris has come into Pittsburgh running at 100 mph. That has always been Harris's personality throughout his football career and it looks like it isn't going to stop anytime soon.
Faulkner on Najee Harris: “I’m all here for the hard work and all of that, but he also has to learn to give himself breaks, too,” Faulkner said. “He works his butt off and sometimes it’s a reward like ‘hey man, go home relax, watch some TV.’ With him being the kind of guy that he is, he’s so engaged and always asking questions. Sometimes I’m trying to teach him, you gotta take a deep breath.”
Listening to many of the Steelers coaches talking about Harris throughout his time in Pittsburgh it seems like he approaches the game as TJ Watt does. He stays humble and realizes there is no ceiling to perfecting his craft. There is always going to be an improvement in regards to both of their games and that is what will make them special players down the road.
Faulkner has not had to teach Najee Harris his work ethic because he has already shown that during his time in Pittsburgh already. He says he has not had to have a conversation with Harris about putting in any extra work so far because he is always at the team's facility honing in on his craft.
Faulkner knows Najee Harris is a talented player: “We know he’s a talented guy, it’s just going to be those little intricacies of the offense and running routes that we want him to do,” Faulkner said. “And understanding that, the different coverages you can see, and how you run your routes off those coverages. Those are the things he’s got to learn.”
It is interesting to hear the Steelers coaches say what Harris needs to work on because it seems like he is almost the perfect player already with how they talk about him. Faulkner did say he doesn't need to work on the bigger things in regards to the running back position, but rather he needs to work on the little things like his footwork or figuring out the route tree. Those can be learned with coaching and learning the way the Steelers want their players to do things. Once Harris can hit the ground running I can guarantee he isn't going to look back and we should witness something very special in Pittsburgh that we haven't seen in some time.
Opmerkingen