The Las Vegas Raiders have plenty of holes to fill on their roster after a 3-14 2025 season. That includes securing a running mate for the 2025 sixth overall pick, Ashton Jeanty, but which running back is general manager John Spytek and the Raiders targeting?
The Raiders Are Interested in This Former Pro Bowl Running Back
According to Charean Williams of NBC Sports, the Raiders hosted former Pittsburgh Steelers and Los Angeles Chargers running back Najee Harris for a visit Friday.
Last offseason, Harris was involved in a July 4 fireworks accident, which placed him on the Non-Football Injury list, forcing him to miss training camp and preseason.
He would end up returning to practice before week one of the NFL season, though he’d end up suffering a non-contact injury in week three, which ended up being a torn Achilles tendon.
Harris would be carted off and later ruled out for the season, allowing rookie running back Omarion Hampton to step up in his place.
Harris’ Historical Production
His 2025 season was his first after his tenure with the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he had four-straight 1,000-yard rushing seasons, including a 1,200-yard rookie season after being selected 24th overall from the University of Alabama.
In his latest healthy season in 2024, he scored a 76.1 grade according to PFSN’s Running Back Impact Grades, ranking him 22nd among his position.
He’s certainly caught the interest of the Raiders, who are in desperate need of a backup running back. As of now, the Raiders only have the inexperienced duo of Dylan Laube and Chris Collier rostered behind Jeanty, who combined for nine rushing yards in 2025.
Even with accomplished Raheem Mostert behind Jeanty last season, he didn’t help much, only contributing 104 yards on 22 carries.
While Jeanty was quite productive for a rookie, producing 1,321 yards from scrimmage, he only rushed for 3.7 yards per carry.
If Jeanty gets a proper partner in the backfield to help lower his usage of 266 carries last year, he could become much more efficient.
Harris could be the perfect fit for that, as he’s a specialist in getting the tough yards up the middle, which could free Jeanty up to make more of the explosive plays that were all too common for him at Boise State.
Other top available running backs include Joe Mixon, Austin Ekeler, Antonio Gibson, and Nick Chubb, though the silver and black seem to have their eyes set on the veteran Harris for now.
