PITTSBURGH (AP) — When Jaylen Warren arrived in Pittsburgh in the spring of 2022 as an undrafted rookie free agent running back, he was hoping he could do enough to earn a spot on the practice squad.

Warren has done far more than that.

Six months after letting former first-round pick Najee Harris leave in free agency, the Steelers on Monday signed Warren to a three-year contract extension that erased any doubt about his status going into 2025 and beyond.

“It’s a great feeling knowing they have my back,” Warren said shortly after the deal was announced. “I’m going to do what I can to have their back.”

Heady territory for a player who reported to Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, (about two hours south of Salt Lake City) as a freshman in 2017 a little “pudgy,” according to one of the coaches.

The staff at Snow told Warren that if he could get in shape, his future might change considerably.

He did. And it has.

Playing with a physicality that belies his size (5-foot-8, 215 pounds), Warren has methodically risen from Snow to Utah State to Oklahoma State to a surprise roster addition in 2022 to — after three years coming off the bench to spell Harris — an NFL starter.

When the Steelers open the season at the New York Jets on Sunday, Warren will run out onto the field alongside Aaron Rodgers, DK Me