Najee Harris' Stock Rising for Offensive Rookie of the Year
By Peter Dewey
Step aside Mac Jones, Najee Harris is staking his claim in the NFL’s Rookie of the Year conversation.
Harris, who had been sitting with the eighth-best odds at WynnBET for the award at +1600, has finally soared past Jones (+1200) and into a tie with Ja’Marr Chase (+1100) for the sixth-best odds in the league.
It’s not a major jump, but it shows that Vegas believes that Harris will be the bellcow in the Pittsburgh Steelers' offense this season. The argument for Harris is easy. He’s going to have a ton of opportunities on a team that let James Conner walk this offseason.
History supports Harris as a great candidate as well. Since 2012, at least one rookie running back has rushed for over 1,000 yards during the regular season, including five running backs over the past three seasons. With the NFL going to a 17-game schedule in 2021, Harris will have even more touches and time to reach this number, and it’s hard to see him missing it if he stays healthy all season.
The last time a running back won the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award came in 2018 (Saquon Barkley), but three of the last six players to win the award have been running backs. The NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year has been a running back and quarterback dominated award, and while Harris doesn’t have the odds that many of the top quarterbacks do, he provides a lot more value than a receiver like Chase at +1100 odds.
While Barkley was a much higher draft pick than Harris, I’ve been supporting Najee to win Offensive Rookie of the Year for some time now at +1600 odds. It’s a great value for a player that had a monster career at Alabama.
Last season, Harris totaled 1,466 rushing yards, 425 receiving yards and 30 total touchdowns. He’s not going to put up those numbers in his rookie season, but he is a do-it-all back that should be dynamic in the Steelers’ offense.
If you aren’t sold on Trevor Lawrence (+275), Justin Fields (+525), Zach Wilson (+600) or Trey Lance (+700), then Harris makes a lot of sense. With two of those quarterbacks (Fields and Lance) not even guaranteed the starting job, it’s shocking that Harris is still so far down the odds list.
Can Najee Harris win Rookie of the Year?
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