Though Ben Roethlisberger didn’t say anything publicly until very late in the season, he appears to have told Najee Harris before the year began that 2021 would be his final in the NFL. Harris joined NFL Network’s Super Bowl Live crew to discuss his rookie year and transition from college to pro and told the story of Roethlisberger informing him he was going to retire after the year.
“Me coming there, I met Ben in his house,” Harris told Colleen Wolfe and Steve Smith. “We had dinner. He told me this is his last year. He said, ‘I’m going to need you to do as much as you can to make my last year special.