Le’Veon Bell, Najee Harris, James Conner, Rashard Mendenhall — all four running backs led the Pittsburgh Steelers in rushing at least three different seasons. But none of them received a contract extension from the Steelers.
As of Monday, though, former undrafted free agent Jaylen Warren has.
Aura Sports Group, who is the agency that represents Warren, announced on social media Monday the running back is signing a two-year extension with the Steelers.
League-wide insider Ian Rapoport of NFL Network and Steelers insiders such as The Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s Gerry Dulac confirmed the announcement.
Warren entered the 2025 offseason as a restricted free agent. The Steelers retained him, while allowing Harris to leave in unrestricted free agency, by tendering him a 1-year deal.
Before Monday’s extension, Warren was set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2026. The new deal will keep the 26-year-old in Pittsburgh for another three seasons, including 2025.
Rapoport reported Warren’s deal will pay him $7 million this season and includes $12 million guaranteed.
With no career starts, Warren gets his deal done by agents @NessMugrabi and @davidcanter of @aurasportsgroup.
Steelers Depot’s Alex Kozora posted on X that Warren is the first Steelers running back to sign a contract extension in 19 years. Prior to Monday, the last running back to agree to an extension with the team was Willie Parker.
Long-time coming. Well-deserved for Warren, a former UDFA like Parker.
Jaylen Warren Announces Contract Extension
It’s fitting that Warren is the first Steelers running back with an extension since Parker. Like Parker 20 years ago, Warren came to the Steelers as an undrafted free agent.
During his second season, Parker replaced more established running backs Jerome Bettis and Duece Staley in the starting lineup to begin the 2005 season. As a first-year starter, Parker rushed for 1,202 yards. To conclude that campaign, he set a Super Bowl record with a 75-yard rushing touchdown early in the third quarter of Pittsburgh’s 21-10 victory to win the franchise’s fifth championship.
Warren signed with the Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 2022. At the time, Harris was coming off a rookie season where he led the NFL in touches and made the Pro Bowl.
That’s different from Parker’s story, as Parker replaced two aging running backs who were injured to begin the 2005 campaign.
But as a rookie, Warren slowly cut into Harris’ playing time. In his second season, Warren averaged 5.3 yards per carry, running for 784 yards and four touchdowns.
In the 2025 NFL Draft, the Steelers drafted Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson in the third round. Warren is expected to continue sharing the Steelers backfield with Johnson.
But Pittsburgh has Warren listed as the team’s RB1 on the team depth chart.
Concerns About Warren’s Contract Extension
Pundits won’t be able to fully react to Warren’s extension news until the full financial details of the agreement are public. But depending on those details, there are risks to the Steelers finally inking a running back to an extension.
Harris, Bell, Conner and Mendenhall all had much more success than Warren but didn’t sign a contract extension in Pittsburgh.
To be fair, there were a variety of reasons those backs didn’t stay with the team. The Steelers tried to sign Bell, but he held out an entire season to try and get a better deal. Mendenhall became a controversial figure with the team and off the field by the time he needed an extension.
As for Harris and Conner, the Steelers preferred drafting a new running back as opposed to signing either to an extension. Ironically, the Steelers selected Harris in 2021 to replace Conner.
With all of this in mind, it’s curious that Warren was the back to receive an extension from the Steelers.
Warren has never started an NFL game. He’s never been a featured back or led the team in any statistical category for an entire season.
Parker was entering his second season as a starter when he signed his extension.
Warren has averaged 4.8 yards per carry. That’s led pundits to argue that he can be a featured back — he just needs more carries.
But fumbling has been a concern with Warren. He’s fumbled about 1.5% of his touches in the NFL. Harris fumbled roughly 0.3% of his touches in his Steelers tenure.
That could explain why Harris continued to start the past two years even though Warren was the more efficient back.
Warren, though, will get the opportunity to prove he can right his fumbling issue and be “the guy” in the Steelers backfield. If he finishes his contract extension, Warren will have played in Pittsburgh longer than any running back in nearly two decades.
Veteran RB Jaylen Warren Makes Steelers History With Contract Extension