The Pittsburgh Steelers have had to live without star running back Le’Veon Bell before, but who will take his place in 2016 if his four-game suspension holds up?
In what’s beginning to become a worrying regular occurrence, the Pittsburgh Steelers are looking at the start of another NFL season without their top rushing threat.
It happened in 2015 when Le’Veon Bell was suspended for three games (later knocked down to two), and it’s likely to be four games this season after word broke that Bell was facing suspension again, this time for a missed drug test. He’s expected to appeal, but the Steelers have to prepare for life without him.
Fortunately perhaps, the team already knows a lot about that scenario. Once Bell returned from suspension last year, he ended up getting hurt halfway through the season and was unavailable the rest of the way. Pittsburgh managed to cobble together a fairly decent ground game nonetheless.
The man who did most of the work in Bell’s absence is back again, and will likely be called upon to start in his place. DeAngelo Williams returns to the Steelers after getting 10 starts in 2015 and racking up 907 yards at a healthy 4.5 yards per carry. The former Carolina Panthers stalwart also hauled in 40 passes.
Williams saw himself miss time to injury as well, forcing the Steelers to turn to Fitzgerald Toussaint in the playoffs. He should also be in the backfield mix as long as Bell is unavailable, though he managed just 2.3 yards per carry in regular season action and only a yard more in the post-season, and seems like a stopgap or a change of pace for Williams at best.
While neither man can replace Bell’s all-around excellence, Williams did a fairly good impression of him for stretches in 2015, and as long as the Steelers can avoid wearing him out — he’s 33, which is practically ancient for an NFL back these days — they should manage to be okay in the short term.
In the long term, though, finding a backup for Bell might be a higher priority than Pittsburgh brass would like to admit.
For more NFL coverage, please visit our hub page.