It’s hard to put into words just how important Jaylen Warren has been to the Steelers’ success this season. The running back’s 998 scrimmage yards through eight weeks of action is good for third in the league behind only Jahmyr Gibbs and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. There is no doubt that Warren is playing at an elite level, and people are starting to have some serious conversations about the way the back has been playing.
Former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger recently went as far as to say that Warren
deserves MVP consideration for his play so far this season on his “Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger” podcast.
“This guy needs to start to be talked about in some MVP stuff. Like league MVP or offensive MVP,” Roethlisberger said. “His numbers and some of the stuff he’s doing is pretty impressive. His yards after contact have to be some of the highest in the league. There’s a lot of things that don’t look good and then all of a sudden it’s like, oh, he fell forward for three.”
Warren is averaging 4.89 yards per touch so far this season, the most by any running back with at least 100 touches. Despite his incredible efficiency and performance this season, there are still 16 players with higher odds to win the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year award on FanDuel Sportsbook.
Is Warren a value play? Possibly, but the clear reason for the lack of love for Warren comes from the fact that he only has three touchdowns this season. Despite being a workhouse and the best player on Pittsburgh’s offense, the touchdown output, coupled with the Steelers not being a flashy offense, hurts his chances significantly.
All of this to say that Roethlisberger is absolutely correct in saying Warren deserves significantly more attention than he is getting for the unbelievable season he is in the midst of having for the Steelers.
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