Le’Veon Bell placed on IR; Steelers sign RB Isaiah Pead
By Joe Lipovich
The Pittsburgh Steelers have placed running back Le’Veon Bell on season-ending IR and have signed RB Isaiah Pead.
The Steelers have announced that running back Le’Veon Bell has been placed on season-ending injured reserve due to a torn MCL suffered in Sunday’s 16-10 loss to the Cincinatti Bengals, according to a press release.
The third-year running back suffered the injury after catching an out route on Sunday while being tackled by Bengals cornerback Adam Jones. The injury was originally reported by Steelers Depot’s Alex Kozora and confirmed by NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport.
Source: #Steelers RB Le'Veon Bell has a badly torn MCL, along with other damage. He's expected to be out for the season.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 2, 2015
Rapoport also reported that the Steelers have signed former Rams running back Isaiah Pead. Pead has rushed for 78 yards on 19 carries in his three-year career. Pead tore his ACL in a preseason game against the Green Bay Packers in 2014, and was released by the team earlier this season.
The Steelers will field a combination of Pead and DeAngelo Williams in replacement of Bell. During Bell’s two-game suspension earlier this season, Williams rushed for 204 yards on 41 carries with three touchdowns in relief. After Bell’s injury on Sunday, Williams had 71 yards on nine carries and caught four passes for 39 yards.
Williams has proven to be a capable backup, and has been very productive in his NFL career. As the leading rusher in Carolina Panthers history, he’s averaged 4.8 yards per carry in his career. He’s also had three seasons in which he averaged more than five yards per rush.
However, it will be hard to replace Bell’s production. In just five full games this season, Bell has 511 yards rushing and three touchdowns. In addition, he’s caught 24 passes for 136 receiving yards. As one of the premier dual-threat running backs in the NFL, Bell has largely been unstoppable in the past two seasons.
While Williams has proven that he can be productive, Pead has not. It’s also unclear whether Williams can sustain production as an every-down back. This is a huge blow for Pittsburgh, and truly unfortunate that it happened on the first game of the season in which quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, receivers Martavis Bryant and Antonio Brown, and Bell were all on the field together.