Jon Witman is a career quality starter — a running back whose body of work places Witman in the top half of all players at the position historically. The Knox model values sustained contribution over flash, and Witman's career arc reflects exactly that kind of reliable professional-grade performance.

FBPIT#38ACT

Jon Witman

Top 36% all-time RBsHigh-End Starter⭐ Shooting Star · 1999

Height6'2"

Weight244 lb

BornJun 1, 1972

Age54

CollegePenn State See College Stats

Rookie yr1996

Draft1996 · Rd 3, Pick 92 · PIT

Archetype Intelligence

High-End StarterExplore archetypes →

A quality running back with a above-average career — a legitimate starter who contributed meaningfully across their career.

Career Value · VORP

VORP 17 · #3246 · Role Player

Worth 17 points of value above a freely-available replacement running back — top 71% of all 4,642 ranked at the position. 4 of 6 seasons cleared the replacement bar, by +4.3 on average.See board →

Seasons above replacement

4 cleared

2 replaced

Beat replacement (adds to VORP) Below it — adds 0, never a debit

Replacement

the KC-H bar

→

Seasons over

cleared the bar

+4.3

Avg surplus

peak +7

4 seasons × ~4.3 surplus ≈ VORP 17

Combined Season Grid

The full season-by-season grids, joined on one timeline. Every selected stat family stays visible at once—no tab hopping.

4 grids split in one view

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Rushing								Receiving									Defense													Advanced (EPA)
Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Att	Yds	TD	Y/A	TD%	1D	1D%	Fmb	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D	Tkl	Solo	Ast	TFL	QBHits	Sk	Dis	Int	PD	FF	FR	TD	Sfty	Pass EPA	Rush EPA	Rec EPA	Pass AirYd	Rec AirYd
1996	—	PIT	16	—	17	69	0	4.1	0.0	—	—	—	—	2	15	0	—	7.5	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1997	—	PIT	16	—	5	11	0	2.2	0.0	—	—	—	—	1	3	0	—	3.0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1998	—	PIT	16	—	1	2	0	2.0	0.0	—	—	—	—	13	74	0	—	5.7	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1999	—	PIT	13	—	6	18	0	3.0	0.0	1	16.7	0	22	12	106	0	54.5%	8.8	4.8	—	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1999	—	TEN	3	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3	3	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	—	—	—	—
1999	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.3	-10.1	0	0
2000	—	PIT	5	—	3	5	0	1.7	0.0	0	0.0	0	7	5	33	0	71.4%	6.6	4.7	—	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2000	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-4.3	-1.3	0	0
2001	—	PIT	9	—	5	24	0	4.8	0.0	1	20.0	0	8	6	32	0	75.0%	5.3	4.0	—	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2001	—	MIN	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	1	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	—	—	—	—
2001	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-1.1	-0.8	0	0
Career		—	79	—	37	129	0	3.5	0.0	2	5.4	0	37	39	263	0	105.4%	6.7	7.1	—	4	4	4	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	0	0	0	—	0	0	—	-5.7	-12.2	0	0

Career EPA-17.9·-6 rushing · -12 receiving·-6.0/season

Rushing

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Att	Yds	Y/A	TD%	1D	1D%	Fmb	VAL
1996	24	PIT	16	—	17	69	4.1	0.0	—	—	—	6.8
1997	25	PIT	16	—	5	11	2.2	0.0	—	—	—	6.6
1998	26	PIT	16	—	1	2	2.0	0.0	—	—	—	7.5
1999	27	PIT	13	—	6	18	3.0	0.0	1	16.7	0	5.3
2000	28	PIT	5	—	3	5	1.7	0.0	0	0.0	0	2.1
2001	29	PIT	9	—	5	24	4.8	0.0	1	20.0	0	3.5
Career			75		37	129	3.5	—	2	—	0	31.8

Receiving

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Tgt	Rec	Yds	Ctch%	Y/R	Y/Tgt	AirYd/T	1D
1996	24	PIT	16	—	—	2	15	—	7.5	—	—	—
1997	25	PIT	16	—	—	1	3	—	3.0	—	—	—
1998	26	PIT	16	—	—	13	74	—	5.7	—	—	—
1999	27	PIT	13	—	22	12	106	54.5%	8.8	4.8	—	2
2000	28	PIT	5	—	7	5	33	71.4%	6.6	4.7	—	2
2001	29	PIT	9	—	8	6	32	75.0%	5.3	4.0	—	0
Career			75		37	39	263	105.4%	6.7	7.1	—	4

Advanced (EPA)

Season	Age	Team	G	GS	Pass EPA	Rush EPA	Rec EPA
1999	27	—	—	—	—	-0.3	-10.1
2000	28	—	—	—	—	-4.3	-1.3
2001	29	—	—	—	—	-1.1	-0.8
Career					—	—	—

KV-H Anatomy

KV-H 53 · Solid

A solid career by KV-H: a well-rounded profile that scores 53 of 100, era-normalized against rush yds/g peers across 6 scored seasons.

Sustained

career value

×.6

Peak

best 3 seasons

×.4

×1

Longevity

career length

Blend 52.6 × longevity 1 = KV-H 53· confidence 94%

What builds the career mark of 51

On-field 33.8

Availability 17.2

On-field production Staying available

Season-by-season quality (era-relative rush yds/g)

1996bestavg 482001

All-Time Standing

how this career measures against the all-time greats at the position

Depth

of 100

Reached 3% of the all-time Receptions leader — a rotational/depth all-time profile at the position.

3% of the all-time Receptions leader3

0 categories ≥25% of the all-time leader0

-5.97 EPA/season over 3 seasons48

A 0–100 scale where 100 = matched the all-time leaderat this position. Built only from visible encyclopedia data — career production vs. the all-time leader, plus efficiency (EPA) and comparable-player confidence — so it's a transparent context score, not a subjective rating. Tiers: Elite ≥ 85 · Strong ≥ 65 · Solid ≥ 45 · Depth < 45. Comparable-player confidence: 93%.

Career Aging Trajectory

vs. position group average · KV-H basis

Amber = this player (normalized to own peak). Indigo = average RBs aging curve. Group peak age: 21. Source: StatVault KV-H era (1999+).

Postseason Career

1 playoff game

Rushing

Att1Yds2Y/A2.0

Advanced (EPA)

Rush EPA-0.5

College Stats

Penn StateCollege listed; stat table pending import

College stats are not imported for this profile yet.

StatVault has the verified college attribution (Penn State), but no parsed college box-score table is present in this profile artifact. The section stays here so every profile has a consistent college-stats landing point without fabricating unavailable rows.

Reference Graph

Career teammates and draft class, derived from year-by-year rosters — every name is linked.

1996 Draft Class· this player went #92

#81Brian RocheTE #82Scott SlutzkerTE #83Jerald MooreRB #85Bobby HoyingQB #86Tedy BruschiILB #87Matt StevensFS #89Terrell OwensWR #90Mike FlanaganC #93Tyrone WilliamsDB #94Stepfret WilliamsWR #97Hunter GoodwinTE #98Donnie EdwardsOLB #99Phillip DanielsDE #100Jeff LewisQB #101Heath IrwinG #102Stephen DavisRB

Franchise Succession

the room, before and after

Jon inherited the Pittsburgh Steelers RB room from Tim Lester (1995–1998), and handed it to Jerome Bettis (1996–2005).

Frank Pollard 1980–1988Walter Abercrombie 1982–1987Rich Erenberg 1984–1986Earnest Jackson 1986–1988Rodney Carter 1987–1989Merril Hoge

Similar Players

Statistical + physical similarity across every player in the database, position-relevant (0–100%).

Movementderived from season history

2001final season
Last recorded season with PIT
1996draft
Drafted by PIT — Round 3, Pick 92

Athletic & Unique Profile

verified measurements and curated source-tagged facts

6'2" / 244 lb

Frame

Knox

StatVault's proprietary player intelligence, informed by full career data. How Knox works →

Historical Knox · KV-H

Era-normalized career quality — z-scored against 6-season peers. See all →

peak 55

Season Report Cards· KV-H era-normalized per season

C+1996

C+1997

C+1998

C+1999

F2000

C2001

Availability

Career durability — games played vs. scheduled, across 6 seasons.

78%

Era Translator

Rush Yds translated to the 2025NFL — each season's standing among its own-era peers, projected onto 2025's scoring environment. Modern-era (1999+) coverage.

Season	Actual Rush Yds	Rush Yds/G	→ 2025 Rush Yds	→ 2025 /G
1996	69	4.3	387+318	22.8
1997	11	0.7	288+277	16.9
1998	2	0.1	263+261	15.5
1999	18	1.4	288+270	16.9
2000	5	1	248+243	14.6
2001	24	2.7	201+177	11.8

Data: nflverse:players, nflverse:player_stats, nflverse:player_stats_def, nflverse:draft_picks, nflverse:advanced-epa (CC-BY 4.0), wikipedia:season-stats (CC-BY-SA, facts-only), nfl.com:official-stats (facts-only reference), nfl.com:official-stats (games-played, facts-only reference) · multi-source verified via the StatVault Oracle · updated 6/18/2026

Career Value · VORP

17 career value over replacement — #3246 all-time of 4,642. 2.8/season above a replacement-level RB.

Draft OutcomeValue ↑

Pick #92 (Rd 3) · PIT · 1996 · +14.3 vs expected KV-H

53actual

38.7 expected · Δ+14.3

Fan Rating

Rate Jon Witman — All-Time

Tap a star to rate

Explore More

Similar Players

Rudy Harris

95% match

Adam Prentice

93% match

Jeff Cothran

93% match

Tommie Agee

92% match

Zach Line

91% match

Compare Jon Witman vs Player Report data error

Jon Witman

Archetype Intelligence

Career Value · VORP

Combined Season Grid

Rushing

Receiving

Advanced (EPA)

KV-H Anatomy

All-Time Standing

Career Aging Trajectory

Postseason Career

Rushing

Advanced (EPA)

College Stats

Reference Graph

Top Teammates

1996 Draft Class· this player went #92

Franchise Succession

Similar Players

Movementderived from season history

Athletic & Unique Profile

Knox

Era Translator

Career Geography