Is Najee Harris’ final game with the Pittsburgh Steelers at hand?

Running back Najee Harris completed his fourth regular season with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. As in the previous three, the former Alabama All-American finished 2024 with more than 1,000 rushing yards, making him the 14th player to do so in each of his first four NFL seasons.

Also as in his first three seasons, Harris started every game for the Steelers in 2024. No other running back has played in 17 games annually since 2021, let alone started every one.

In his four seasons, Harris had reached sixth on the Steelers’ all-time rushing list. But despite his accomplishment, Harris might not get an opportunity to climb any higher on that regular-season chart.

In the offseason, Pittsburgh had an opportunity to secure Harris for 2025 by exercising its option for a fifth season on his rookie contract, signed after he joined the Steelers as the 24th pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. The season would have cost Pittsburgh $6.97 million.

The Steelers declined to do so, meaning when the playoffs end for Pittsburgh, so might Harris’ career with the team. If the Steelers don’t sign him to a contract extension by March 12, Harris will become an unrestricted free agent.

Pittsburgh’s postseason exit could come as early as Saturday night. The Steelers square off with the Baltimore Ravens in a first-round game in the AFC playoffs at 7 p.m. CST Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

“Soak it in?” Harris said on Thursday about that possibility. “Shoot, man, this is a business. This is a production business, obviously. All you can do is -- I’ve been put in situations where you’ve got to make the best of your opportunities. And, I mean, whatever that is, it is, and if you can say you’ve done the best you can, that’s all you can do.

“Would you want to change stuff? Yeah. Would you want to have done better at some things? Yeah. But sometimes people just faced with certain situations, you just got to make the best of it. That’s really it.”

For Harris, the focus isn’t on the possibility of his last game for Pittsburgh, but on the opportunity for his first playoff victory with the Steelers.

“I’m looking for my first one, so it’s important,” Harris said.

In Harris’ previous playoff appearances, Pittsburgh lost to the Kansas City Chiefs 42-21 on Jan. 16, 2022, and the Buffalo Bills 31-17 on Jan. 15, 2024, in first-round games.

Harris said he’s “way more confident” about the Steelers’ chances this postseason. That’s even though Pittsburgh enters the playoffs on a four-game losing streak.

“We got to take care of the ball,” Harris said of the lesson of the past four games. “Taking care of the ball’s important. Executing our plays – executing small assignments and getting back to our winning football.”