Eddie Faulkner is in his seventh season as the running backs coach for the Steelers, after being hired on January 17, 2019.
The running back group was assured of being a big part of every game plan under first-year offensive coordinator Arthur Smith in 2024. That proved to be the case, as only the Eagles and Ravens ran the ball a higher percentage than the 52.1 the Steelers posted in 2024.
Najee Harris led the way with 263 carries for 1,043 yards and six TDs. He also caught 36 passes for 283 yards. It was Harris' fourth-consecutive 1,000-yard season to open his career, making him just the 14th player in league history to do so.
Faulker mentored the tandem of Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren, each of whom eclipsed 1,000 scrimmage yards in 2023. Harris and Warren were the fourth duo in franchise history to eclipse 1,000 scrimmage yards in the same season and first since Walter Abercrombie and Earnest Jackson in 1986. Abercrombie and Frank Pollard also accomplished the feat in 1985, as did Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier in 1976.
Harris and Warren each rushed for 750 yards last season. The duo was the first pair of Steelers' running backs to each rush for 750 or more yards in the same since season 2004 (Jerome Bettis, 941; Duce Staley, 830).
Harris is the only player in the NFL to register 1,000 yards rushing in each of the last three seasons. He is also the first player in franchise history to record 1,000 yards rushing in each of his first three seasons in the NFL. Harris' three 1,000-yard rushing seasons are tied for the third-most in franchise history (Le'Veon Bell, Willie Parker).
In 2022, with Faulkner's guidance, Najee Harris was selected as a team captain in just his second NFL season. Harris eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards for the second consecutive season, becoming the first running back in franchise history to do so in each of his first two seasons. He racked up 428 career rushes before his first NFL fumble on a rush, which is the fifth most rushes without a fumble to open a career in NFL history.
Faulkner oversaw the development of Harris in 2021 who led the NFL in touches (377), led all NFL running backs in catches (74) and finished the season with the most rushes (307), rushing yards (1,200), catches and receiving yards (467) by a rookie running back in franchise history, culminating in a trip to the Pro Bowl.
In 2020, Faulkner's running backs included James Conner, who ran for 721 yards on 169 carries and six touchdowns. Conner registered a TD run in four consecutive games; he is the first Steeler to do so since Le'Veon Bell had a five-game TD streak over the 2013-14 seasons. He also recorded three 100+ yard games, including two consecutively, putting him at seventh all-time in Steelers' history for most 100-yard rushing games.
Prior to joining the Steelers, Faulkner spent six years, 2013-18, at NC State as the school's tight ends/fullbacks/special teams coordinator. In 2017, Faulkner was selected to participate in the NCAA Champion Forum as one of eight minority coaches in the nation chosen to participate in the professional development opportunity.
While at NC State, Faulkner coached the program's all-time receptions leader and former Steeler, running back Jaylen Samuels, who finished his career with 202 catches while earning first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors in 2015 and in 2017. In 2017, Samuels finished third in the conference with 16 TDs — the third-most in a season by a N.C. State footballer. Wolfpack running back Reggie Gallaspy II tied for fifth in the nation with 19 total TDs in 2018, scoring 18 on the ground.
Faulkner spent the 2012 season at the University of Wisconsin coaching the Badgers' tight ends. Under Faulkner's guidance, then junior Jacob Pederson won All-Big Ten honors and the League's Kwalick-Clark Tight End of the Year award, finishing as the school's second leading receiver.
In 2011, Faulkner held the running backs/special teams coordinator title at Northern Illinois University, where he mentored All-Mid-American Conference tailback Jasmin Hopkins. Hopkins produced 956 rushing yards and 15 TDs in 187 carries as the school's 234.1 rushing yards per game average ranked 12th in the nation.
Following a 2002 season as the running backs coach at Anderson University, Faulkner spent the 2003-10 campaigns at Ball State University, serving as a graduate assistant (2003-04), running backs/special teams (2005-08) and the offensive coordinator/running backs (2009-10), including a stint as the school's interim head coach at the end of the 2010 season.
While he was at Ball State, the Cardinals secured two MAC West Division championships and advanced to back-to-back bowl games for the first time in program history. In 2008, Ball State produced an undefeated regular-season record as tailback MiQuale Lewis tallied a school-record 1,736 rushing yards. Faulkner coached a duo to become the first in a single game in NCAA history to tally 500 rushing yards on Oct. 24, 2009 vs. Eastern Michigan (MiQuale Lewis: 301 and Cory Sykes: 203).
Faulkner, a member of two Big Ten championship teams as Wisconsin's running back, rushed for 1,064 yards and 7 TDs in his collegiate career from 1996-2000. During his Badgers' career, the team advanced to five consecutive bowl games, including back-to-back Rose Bowl appearances in 1999 and 2000. He spent the 2001 training camp with the Steelers as an undrafted free agent and the 2002 preseason with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League.
