Pittsburgh Steelers RB Le’Veon Bell will be suspended for the first 3 games of the NFL season
After the suspension had been announced for New England Patriots RB Legarrette Blount’s suspension on Wednesday, Pittsburgh Steeelers RB Le’Veon Bell is expected to get his suspension handed down very soon as well. Blount has been suspended without pay for the 2015 regular-season opener for a violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy. Blount was playing for the Steelers when he and Le’Veon Bell were arrested after police found three-fourths of an ounce of marijuana in Bell’s car during a traffic stop. The charges were dropped after Blount agreed to community service.
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Bell is expected to get his suspension handed down and Adam Schefeter says that Bell will be out for the first 3 games of the regular season. He will also be fined for an additional 4th game.
Bell played in all 16 games last season and finished the year with 1,361 rushing yards and 8 rushing touchdowns. He also had 854 receiving yards and 3 receiving touchdowns. He is a huge threat on the Steelers offense, but the team will have to find a way to move the ball on the ground without him in the first two games of the year.
The team signed De’Angelo Williams in the offseason and he will likely be the next man up on the depth chart. Williams has a ton of experience as a starter from his days with the Carolina Panthers. Williams didn’t get many opportunities to run the ball last year as he was dealing with a number of nagging injuries, but he finished the season with 219 rushing yards with a 3.5 yards per carry average. Over his career, Williams has a 4.8 yards per carry average.
Dri Archer is also listed on the depth chart as a running back, but he barely touched the ball in the run game last season. He had 10 carries for the Steelers. We will see if the team has different plans for him next season, but he likely will still stay away from the run game.
The Steelers still could bring more depth at the position through the draft or with some undrafted free agents if they need it. As soon as Bell returns, the team’s run game should be good. Bell will miss out in the first 3 games of the year, so the team should be able to survive until then. Williams should be able to hold his own for the first 3 games of the year. He might get injured after that though.
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