One of Mike Tomlin’s first famous quotes came a few weeks into his rookie season in 2007. Tomlin inherited Willie Parker, who had rushed for nearly 1,500 yards and 13 touchdowns in the previous season, and said he was going to ride Parker “until the wheels come off.”

Tomlin did just that, as Parker rushed for 1,316 yards. He was Tomlin’s first bell-cow running back and was followed some years later by Le’Veon Bell and Najee Harris, both of whom were among the franchise’s most heavily used backs. Bell touched the ball 406 times on his way to 1,946 scrimmage yards during the 2017 season, and Harris had 1,667 yards on 381 touches during his rookie season in 2021.

Tomlin eventually came around to the back-by-committee approach in 2022 and he’s been married to that system since then. But now,

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