Pittsburg, PA

Study: Which Draft-Eligible Running Backs Can Pittsburgh Trust Most?

Published

10 months ago

April 8, 2025

Study: Which Draft-Eligible Running Backs Can Pittsburgh Trust Most?

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a need to fill at running back, and the 2025 draft class has plenty of quality players at the position. Pittsburgh prides itself as an offense that takes care of the football, with avoiding fumbles as a rusher obviously part of that equation.

Today, I wanted to provide and examine 2024 fumble rates for draft RBs who were at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine, including rush attempts for quantity context:

For starters, we see that one player stood out from the pack negatively: Texas RB Jaydon Blue. While he is a big-play threat who would be refreshing to see pan out in Pittsburgh, the Steelers’ priority in taking care of the football doesn’t ideally align with him on paper. A whopping five fumbles was most of all 31 qualifiers, on just 135 carries (26th).

If the Steelers choose matching speed, two other players with sub 4.4 40-yard dash times were SMU’s Brashard Smith and Arizona State’s Cam Skattebo. They didn’t top the fumble rates, instead landing closer to the mean on above-average attempts last season. All three project as Day 2/3 prospects, where most expect Pittsburgh to address the position.

Three players land on the top right with no fumbles in 2024. Kyle Monangai of Rutgers had the most carries of them (256, sixth), followed by Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson (240, seventh) and Oregon’s Jordan James (233, eighth). As anticipated, the Steelers have shown interest in all three. Though he has less athleticism, Johnson fits the mold of past Steelers lead backs best.

This would likely require the highest draft investment, but Pittsburgh lacks a second-round pick (currently) where several expect him to go. Speaking of early projections, a few stand out. North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton had only one fumble on the fourth-most attempts (281), ranking eighth in fumble rate, impressively.

The Steelers have also eyed Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson of Ohio State. Both land on the top left of the visual, with plus fumble rates on lesser opportunities in their committee backfield. Important context and matches the role they’d play in the Steel City. I’d vote Hampton or Judkins, both of whom are big backs with respectable speed.

Texas Tech’s Tahj Brooks also had an above-the-mean fumble rate, but on much more volume (third-most carries). Interestingly, Pittsburgh hasn’t shown much interest to date, but I like him as a later-round option.

Four players complete the above-average results: Syracuse’s Lequint Allen Jr., Kansas’ Devin Neal, Clemson’s Phil Mafah, and UCF’s RJ Harvey. Mafah has the Steelers’ attention most and also maxed the scales at the position at 234 pounds. However, speed and lack of athletic testing are a concern for the Day 3 prospect.

Here’s the complete list of players with positive fumble rates but below-average carries: Henderson, Judkins, Michigan’s Kalel Mullings, USC’s Woody Marks, Miami’s Damien Martinez, Delaware’s Marcus Yarns, and Ole Miss’ Ulysses Bentley IV. The linked players are largely late-round projections, with Martinez arguably a worthy Day 2 pick.

Players on the bottom right of the visual (high volume, below-average fumble rates) didn’t stray too far from the mean, encouragingly. Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty is this year’s top RB prospect, and he led the group with a whopping 375 attempts (second place was 294). Four fumbles, though, landed him just below the mean among his peers.

Here’s the rest of that list: Skattebo, Smith, Tennessee’s Dylan Sampson, and Cincinnati’s Corey Kiner. The latter was barely above the average number of attempts (204), seemingly an undrafted possibility. Skattebo and Sampson project higher than Smith (Day 3).

In regard to this article, here is the list of players you’d want to avoid (low attempts, high fumble rate):

Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon II
Auburn’s Jarquez Hunter
South Carolina’s Rocket Sanders
Virginia Tech’s Bhayshul Tuten
Arkansas’ Ja’Quinden Jackson
Georgia’s Trevor Etienne
Michigan’s Donovan Edwards
Texas’ Jaydon Blue

Gordon, Tuten, and Blue have garnered the most Steelers interest of this tier. They each have nice traits, but fumble rate from their 2024 season isn’t one of them, and I would avoid them with stacked depth in this RB class.

For context, former Steelers RB Najee Harris had 252 attempts and two fumbles his final college season. That would’ve landed him at seventh in carries and 16th in fumble rate in this study. Jaylen Warren remains in Pittsburgh and had a very comparable 256 attempts with two fumbles. This may suggest that running backs with average fumble rates (or better) may be who Pittsburgh targets.

To close, I will list those players once again in order of various projections: Omarion Hampton, Quinshon Judkins, TreVeyon Henderson, Kaleb Johnson, Devin Neal, RJ Harvey, Damien Martinez, Kalel Mullings, Kyle Monangai, Tahj Brooks, Marcus Yarns, LeQuint Allen Jr., Jordan James, Woody Marks, Phil Mafah, and Ulysses Bentley IV.

While fumbles are just one piece of the puzzle, it’s an important one to how Pittsburgh plays. I personally hope the Steelers select one from this list and can’t wait to see how it pans out later this month.

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Pittsburg, PA

New Steelers Coach Mike McCarthy Wants Aaron Rodgers Back in Pittsburgh

Published

11 hours ago

January 27, 2026

Press Room

New Steelers Coach Mike McCarthy Wants Aaron Rodgers Back in Pittsburgh

Mike McCarthy is wasting no time in trying to lure Aaron Rodgers back to the Pittsburgh Steelers for another season.

The new Pittsburgh Steelers head coach not only made his pitch for Rodgers to return for the 2026 season, but McCarthy also revealed that he’s been in contact with the quarterback, he shared at his introductory press conference on Tuesday.

“Definitely. I don’t see why you wouldn’t,” McCarthy told reporters. “I have spoken to Aaron, and so that’s really where we are there. I was able to sit back and watch the games. I watched most of the Pittsburgh games on TV, and I thought he was a great asset for the team.”

Rodgers, 42, hasn’t said yet if he’ll play again in 2026. Shortly after he signed with the Steelers this past offseason, he indicated that the 2025 season would be his last. But he said following the Steelers’ playoff loss to the Houston Texans that he was “not going to make any emotional decisions” regarding his future in that moment.

“I’m disappointed,” he said. “Obviously, it was such a fun year. A lot of adversity but a lot of fun.”

Of course, McCarthy coached Rodgers when he was the head coach of the Packers, working alongside the quarterback for 13 seasons. The duo won a Super Bowl together during that time, with Rodgers emerging as one of the game’s top quarterbacks and winning multiple MVP awards.

While McCarthy has made it clear he’d like Rodgers to return as the Steelers’ quarterback, he said he’ll also give him the space he needs to make a decision.

“I think when players are up that stage of their career, they need to step away and decompress,” McCarthy said. “I think that’s very important.

“The game is so emotional, what these men commit to, and what they put into it. I think that time away is important.”

Rodgers had a respectable season with the Steelers in 2025 following a disappointing two-year stint with the New York Jets. He completed 65.7% of his passes for 3,322 yards, 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions to go with a 94.8 passer rating, helping Pittsburgh go 10-7 and win the AFC North.

Even if Rodgers returns, though, questions still remain at quarterback for the Steelers. They don’t have a clear longterm solution at the position, with veteran backup Mason Rudolph and sixth-round rookie Will Howard being the only other quarterbacks on their roster.

However, McCarthy seemed bullish about the options the Steelers have in their quarterback room.

“I’m really excited about Will Howard,” he said. “I think he’s someone that I thought really came on there at Ohio State. I’m anxious to work with him.

“It’d be great to have Aaron back, but with Will and Mason, I’m really, I’m really, really excited to get started with those guys.”

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Extremely cold temperatures will be in place for the Pittsburgh area through the end of the week

Published

23 hours ago

January 27, 2026

Press Room

Extremely cold temperatures will be in place for the Pittsburgh area through the end of the week.

Any Alert Days Ahead? Tuesday is a First Alert Weather Day due to wind chills potentially dipping to 25 degrees below zero. Friday and Saturday are likely First Alert Weather Days due to extreme cold.

Aware: Extreme cold warning in effect through 11 a.m. today, A cold weather advisory is in effect from 7 p.m. today through 11 a.m. on Wednesday.

There will be little escaping the cold over the next week, while outside, temperatures most mornings dip to 0° or below.

Highs are only expected to hit the mid-teens. When it gets this cold, we see a slew of cold-weather warnings and advisories being issued. For a general rule of thumb, warnings are always worse than advisories. So even without knowing why they are issued, you should think an Extreme Cold Warning is worse than a Cold Weather Advisory.

Extreme Cold Warnings are issued when wind chill values dip below twenty below zero. At these temperatures, you are looking at frostbite setting in 30 minutes or less. A Cold Weather Advisory is issued when wind chill values dip to lower than ten below zero but not more than twenty below zero.

KDKA Weather Center

So knowing that, we will likely see Cold Weather Advisories also issued for Wednesday evening to Thursday morning with morning temperatures near 0° and wind chills between -10° to -20°. Thursday evening to Friday morning, along with Friday evening to Saturday morning will likely see Extreme Cold Warnings issued with morning temperatures falling to around -5° on Friday morning and -8° on Saturday. It won’t take too much of a wind to get to the warning criteria on those days. If you must work outside for any long period, please take precautions against frostbite, including layering and covering up, along with making sure your skin isn’t dry.

At least there are no days when we are expecting to see several inches of snow incoming. We do have a chance for snow tonight, with our best chance coming after 5 this evening, with upslope snow showers possible for the rest of the evening. Snow totals will be an inch or less. Besides that, I don’t have anything more than an isolated snow chance through next Monday.