Steelers Pro Bowler said to be changing his habits heading into contract year

“It’s all [5th year option decline] fueling his fire to have an even better season than last year and prove a lot of people wrong,” Harris' trainer Josh Scott told Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. “There's a lot of people that hate on him for whatever reason, but he's been as consistent as you can be. He’s durable. I think he's going to continue with that. I mean, contract season, that pretty much speaks for itself.”

Harris' trainer isn't peddling water for Harris here, he's speaking facts. Not only is he the sole back in franchise history to start his career with three straight 1000-yard seasons, he has also yet to miss a game, starting in 51 of 51 career games. 

He’s probably right around 235 now, estimated Scott, who called Harris “extremely clean — almost obsessively clean — with his diet.” And Harris told Scott that when he arrived at Steelers headquarters for the first phase of the offseason program, people were commenting that he looked like he was 220. -Brian Batko, PPG

“One of the main things he's done, personally, was make some big changes to his eating habits,” Scott said. “Anytime you're looking to recomposition your body and drop body fat, that's going to be the first place you look...

"...Much more durable, much more nimble dropping that maybe eight or 10 pounds, whatever it was, of body fat but then replacing some of that with some good, lean tissue,” Scott added. “And that’s really shown in his movement. He’s looking really, really springy; really, really light off the ground; and more agile.”

This isn't atypical for players heading into a contract year. Some might argue this should be the effort or intent that players come into the league with, but Harris' process has obviously worked for him to this point and now he wants to level up. You do that by having your best season yet, which starts with preparation. 

Harris promises to be motivated in 2024.