Do the Steelers need Le’Veon Bell to win a Super Bowl?
The Le’Veon Bell contract situation drags on, creating tension among Steelers Nation. Some believe that Pittsburgh needs Bell to maintain an elite offense, despite the remaining deep group of backs and receivers employed by the Steelers.
On the extreme end of the debate, fans don’t believe that the Steelers Super Bowl odds amount to much without Bell. No NFL franchise wins because of a single player; even the quarterback position (as proven recently by Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles).
This fact is sometimes ignored during the Bell dispute. The Steelers opened their preseason against the defending Super Bowl Champion Eagles; a team which won through a running back-by-committee approach and an elite defense.
Despite Bell questionably sitting out training camp, and threatening to sit out a portion of the season if he were tagged again, football odds sites like CanadaSportsBetting.ca list the Steelers as +1000 favorites to win it all.
This shows that the Steelers are still considered a championship level with, or without Le’Veon Bell. Here’s why.
Ground production by committee
I wrote about this a few weeks ago with more clarity, but I will paraphrase this here: many modern NFL offenses use a running back approach by committee. Rather than ride a single back, offensive coordinators have split the backfield duties between several players.
During the Eagles Super Bowl run, LeGarrette Blount battered opponents into submission, earning nearly one-in-five total first downs for Philly. Jay Ajayi was poached from the Dolphins in a midseason trade and ran for mostly big gains on early downs.
Rookie Corey Clement came from out of nowhere when veteran back Darren Sproles got hurt. He impressed coaches with his speed, finesse and nose for the red zone, which earned him a lot of looks near the goal line.
Additionally, the New England Patriots have recently used multiple running backs; which I’ve joked about on the Steel City Underground Podcast as being to the dismay of fantasy football players. While we can’t guess who the Patriots will give the lion’s share of carries to from week-to-week, the Atlanta Falcons (who are a year removed from playing in the big game) also deploy two strong running backs in Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman.
The New Orleans Saints enter 2018 with rookie sensation Alvin Kamara and starter Mark Ingram; who is now suspended to start the season. The Saints wasted no time adding more veterans to their backfield, including Terrance West and Shane Vereen to make up for Ingram’s lost time.
We could see a similar approach with the Steelers who have James Conner, Stevan Ridley, Fitzgerald Toussaint and Jaylen Samuels on the depth chart. Conner looks so good in camp you wouldn’t believe he had a knee injury which ended his 2017 rookie season.
Conner opened eyes by averaging 4.5 yards per carry in limited action: a half-yard per carry more than Le’Veon Bell. His hands also appear to be improving during practice.
Samuels was a touchdown scoring phenom in college, finding the end zone in both rushing and passing situations. New offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner will have fun finding ways to fit him into an already explosive offense, while Ridley and Toussaint will likely battle for the remaining roster spot. Each is a veteran with starting experience and a more than capable third option off of the bench.
That makes for a deep rotation that the Steelers could find themselves using for the first time since their last Super Bowl win. During that championship run the team split carries between Will Parker and third-down back Mewelde Moore.
Best receivers in the league
Le’Veon Bell’s contract dispute revolves around the fact that he’s capable of supplementing his rushing production with more receiving yards. His argument is that he is a “wide receiver two” and worth more. While he gained more yards (655) than many top wide receivers on several teams earned during the 2017 season, his production is replaceable.
I don’t even have to hesitate in saying Antonio Brown can always do more. He surprises everyone with creating NFL records. It’s the collective of the rest of the “wide receiver factory” in Pittsburgh that would more than makeup for Bell’s receptions and yardage.
Aside from Samuels and Conner, who would cut into that number if they replaced Bell, the remaining catches and yards could be distributed among JuJu Smith-Schuster, rookie James Washington and tight ends Vance McDonald and Jesse James. Tight end sets have dominated training camp thus far and adding a versatile H-back such as Samuels to the mix will more than account for Bell’s production.
Smith-Schuster appears to have the most to gain as he fell shy of a 1,000-yard receiving campaign during his rookie season. Now the full-time starter, JuJu should easily eclipse the century mark as teams who try to focus on Brown will pay the price.
James Washington, a second-round pick from Oklahoma State, finished his college career with the most receiving yards in OSU history. It already appears that he’ll transition well to the NFL in much the same way that Smith-Schuster did a year earlier.
Behind those names include veteran receivers such as Darrius Heyward-Bey, Justin Hunter, and Eli Rogers.
Needless to say, most teams would love to have two solid wide receivers. Having the greatest in the game, as well as several other “go to” options, makes the Steelers passing game dangerous: with or without Bell.
Defense still wins championships
I hate mentioning that word, because it’s precisely how the Steelers fell out of the postseason in a devastating loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. However, the attention hasn’t shifted from a Steelers defense that led the league in sacks last season.
Mostly the spotlight has remained on that side of the ball due to the absence of Ryan Shazier. However, the unit returns nearly all of their 2017 starters, with an upgrade at the safety positions and new position coaches hungry to continue the evolution of D. In fact, this season’s Steelers defense could be the best they’ve had in years.
The secondary will feature a bit more speed and youth, along with new talent. Morgan Burnett was signed away from the Packers and second-round pick Terrell Edmunds could inject the lineup with elite athleticism and speed. Either will play the strong safety spot vacated by Sean Davis, who now moves into Mike Mitchell’s former role as free safety.
For the first time in a long time the Steelers have a deep and talented cornerbacks group as well. Joe Haden appears to be returning to elite form with 23-year-old Artie Burns molding into a strong player himself. The slots are patrolled by a pair of similar players in Mike Hilton and Cameron Sutton, the latter who can also play outside the numbers.
The front seven is equally talented. Cam Heyard led the team in sacks. Stephon Tuitt is on the verge of a breakout season too. Bud Dupree and T.J. Watt combined for 13 sacks last season, and will either switch sides to create mismatches or at least rotate to do the same in 2018.
Vince Williams had a career-high eight sacks last season as well: that would’ve been a team-high over the last several seasons where the defense struggled. His new teammate is free agent acquisition Jon Bostic, a sure tackler who can play all three downs and possesses the sideline-to-sideline speed that was sorely missed when Shazier’s season was lost last November.
If the Steelers defense can capitalize on their 2017 and build upon it in 2018, we may not be talking about the offense as much.
After all, the offense scored 42 points to the Jaguars 45 in that playoff loss.
Football’s still a team sport
Finally, as mentioned above, no one player makes a football team. An argument can be made for the quarterback position, but the remaining 21 starting spots on offense and defense are mostly interchangeable. Each NFL team has its stars, but the fact remains that the salary cap is structured so there’s parity across the league’s 32 members.
It would be difficult to spend the amount of money Bell wants on an individual player without sacrifices. Other stars with upcoming contract renewals would be in jeopardy of being poached by other teams. Therefore, it may behoove the Steelers to consider signing 3-4 players in place of a single running back, especially given the success of those teams using a committee approach.
Regardless, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be one of the deepest teams in the NFL: with or without Le’Veon. There are still the favorites to earn another bye on top of yet another AFC North title.
While having Bell certainly puts the Steelers offense over the top, a decline in his production while being paid top dollar would certainly do more damage than attempting to replace a portion of his stats by utilizing several, cheaper players in his place.
Also keep in mind that with a young, growing defense, the Steelers may not even need their offense to shoulder the burden of winning games anymore; much like that 2008 championship team.
