Steelers second-year running back Najee Harris made his preseason debut in the club’s final exhibition of the year on Sunday against Detroit. Prior to this, Harris had been limited throughout camp after suffering a foot injury in Pittsburgh’s first padded practice of the summer. After the game, the former first-round pick revealed that he’s been dealing with a Lisfranc sprain, which is a bit more severe of an injury diagnosis compared to what was thought to be a more mild foot injury.
Harris added that he was given a four-to-six week recovery timeline and has been on track to be completely healthy for the start of the regular season. He said that his foot is feeling fine and now it’s more about shaking off the rust.
“It was good to get back out there,” Harris said Sunday, via SI.com. “I was a little bit rusty, I’ll admit. I was down for about four weeks. … I got my foot stepped on. I had a sprained Linsfranc. So that’s why I was out for the majority of camp. So to get back in the motions of stuff, I felt a little rusty. I wasn’t too happy about my performance. Made a bad read on one run, had the false start.”
Harris played the first three series of the game Sunday and carried the ball four times for 10 yards. He also caught all three of his targets for 11 yards.
“Getting live action like this [helps], because I’m not getting live action in practice,” he said. “They told me at the beginning of camp that I’d have one day of live and that’s it. That could be a good thing but also a bad thing, obviously because of things like this.”
Harris is coming off a strong rookie season where he was named to the Pro Bowl after totaling 1,667 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns. His usage over the course of the year was also massive as he led the league with 381 touches. This year, he’s primed for possibly the same workload and even said he’d be willing to touch the ball up to 500 times if it helps Pittsburgh win.
Of course, Harris can only help boost this offense — and whoever is starting under center — if he’s healthy. Luckily for him and the Steelers, it looks like he’s on his way to making this injury merely a summer speed bump.
