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    Is Najee Harris Playing This Week? Examining the Steelers RB’s Injury Ahead of Week 7

    After seeing a decrease in usage last week, Najee Harris is now on the injury report ahead of Week 7. Will the Steelers RB play this week?

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    Now in his fourth NFL season, Pittsburgh Steelers RB Najee Harris has yet to miss a game. However, he’s currently battling an injury to his ribs, so is that streak in jeopardy?

    Let’s break down Harris’ injury, including what it means for the Steelers and fantasy football managers.

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    Will Najee Harris Be Active in Week 7?

    Harris missed practice on Wednesday due to his rib issue, which turned some heads. However, Harris was a full participant in Thursday and Friday’s practices, and received no injury designation on the final injury report. Pittsburgh’s starting running back is good to go for Week 7 when the Steelers face the New York Jets.

    The Steelers are one of the least forthcoming teams when it comes to injuries. All they typically tell us is what the injury is rather than providing any details. For all we know, Harris may have just been dealing with soreness earlier in the week.

    The fact that he not only returned to practice but was a full participant the last two days is a great sign and points to him experiencing no limited workload. That’s important to consider with Jaylen Warren also fully healthy for the first time this season.

    At this point, it certainly seems like the Steelers backfield is the healthiest it’s been all season.

    Harris’ Fantasy Outlook This Week

    This touchdown against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 6 was a thing of beauty, as Harris flashed the type of agility that we’ve wanted to see from him for years.

    In total, he wrung up 122 yards against the Raiders on 16 touches. It was easily his best performance of the season (his longest gain and his first touchdown), and now he draws a Jets defense that is on short rest after giving up 152 yards to Ray Davis on Monday night.

    The apparent move to Russell Wilson adds scoring equity to Harris’ portfolio, and with Jaylen Warren carrying six times for just seven yards last week, we might just have a bell cow in Pittsburgh.

    For the season as a whole, the Jets are an average run defense and Harris is an average back in terms of efficiency. I worry that this is a low-possession game, and that caps the upside for all players involved, but I’m looking for Harris to assume roughly 70% of the running back carries in this coin-flip game, resulting in an average RB2 ranking on my end.

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