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The Pittsburgh Steelers offense has been in a state of flux so far this offseason. With Heat Miller retired, Martavis Bryant suspended and Le'Veon Bell suspended, the Steelers have been without three of their four-best receiving options from last season. Throw in Markus Wheaton's injury issues and the offense has been reduced to Antonio Brown and a varitey of unknowns. You have the tall receiver unknown, Sammie Coates Jr, the short receiver unknown, Eli Rogers, and the tight end unknown, Jessie James. None of those three receivers have been spectacular but they've done enough to complement Brown and Roethlisberger as the Steelers begin the season with a 2-1 record.
A big reason for the Steelers success has been the effectiveness of DeAngelo Williams.
Williams was held in check by the Philadephia Eagles in Week 3, he ran the ball eight times for just 21 yards, but has been productive for the season as a whole. The 33-year old running back has 258 yards and two touhdowns on 66 carries. He also has 14 receptions for 89 yards and a touchdown. Williams is just a fill-in for the Steelers. Ideally he wouldn't need to see the field as often as he has since signing with the team two years ago. In a perfect world Williams would be a goalline, short-yardage runner who only came on the field when Bell was tired. He won't return to the role of a backup when Bell returns this weekend.
He won't return to being a backup because the Steelers offense doesn't have the depth to keep him on the sidelines. Without Miller and Bryant, Williams is the Steelers' third-best weapon on offense. Brown and Bell are 1A and 1B, but keeping Williams on the sideline only to give his snaps to Coates, Rogers or James would be illogical. Fortunately for Pittsburgh, Bell is so versatile that Todd Haley should feel comfortable keeping both of his top backs on the field together.
In 2015, Bell and Williams were active at the same time for six games. Williams' production disappeared once Bell returned. The veteran had 22 carries for 106 yards and no touchdowns with just five receptions for 47 yards. 9 of those carries and 71 of those rushing yards came in the same game Bell was injured, Week 8 against the Cincinnati Bengals. Essentially all of his receiving output (four receptions for 39 yards) came in that game also.
That offense was in flux also with Ben Roethlisberger hurt and the aforementioned Miller and Bryant in the lineup. Now that Roethlisberger is available and his receiving options aren't, the Steelers are talking about adjusting to fit their offense around their available personnel. This means Williams and Bell will share time on the field.
Can they both produce enough to start together? Or does Williams have to be benched so long as Bell is available.
Mike Tomlin immediately stated that Bell would return to his bell-cow status from before. Williams himself said that he was just an insurance policy. Roethlisberger may have let the proverbial cat out of the bag though. Speaking to ESPN, Roethlisberger said ""Listen, we're not going to put [Bell] at wide receiver and DeAngelo at running back. But we will have them both on the field and move them out of the backfield. We're not going to take RB off the front of [Bell's] name and put WR. But I definitely think he is one of our best receivers."
What Roethlisberger basically said is that the Steelers will have a package. He didn't dispute that Bell would be the primary ball carrier but he did tell us that there will be times when Bell is actually in play as a wide receiver, even if Roethlisberger refuses to label him as a receiver. This usage could threaten both back's fantasy value, but if the Steelers offense lives up to its potential, then it could actually enhance both players' production. Williams will steal touchdowns from Bell as the short-yardage option but Bell's receiving output should increase to offset that. Williams will lose a severe amount of carries to Bell, but dropping down from 26 or 32 carries to 12 or 15 won't completely destroy his value.
This backfield should ultimately look like the San Diego Chargers backfield. Bell can fill a Danny Woodhead role, only with more carries, while Williams can still provide value running the ball between the tackles, only with more quality than Melvin Gordon did as a rookie.
The key to this gameplan working is Bell's ability to line up in the slot or out wide and be a matchup problem. When he first returned in 2015, the Steelers split him wide before completing a pass to him on three occasions. The Steelers entered this game with Roethlisberger as part of the gameplan, so even though the above play comes when Michael Vick had replaced the injured starter, it's still notable from a preparation point of view. When Roethlisberger was out Bell was mostly reduced to screen passes from the backfield. What mostly stands out on this play is Bell's technical precision.
He is working against linebacker Alec Ogletree. Ogletree is a great athlete and regularly celebrated for his coverage skills. While he may be an overrated player overall, he is still much more likely to comfortably cover a running back in press coverage outside like this than the majority of players playing his position at this level. Bell destroys Ogletree. Ogletree is scared to jam him at the line and Bell uses his passiveness to set him up. He sells the slant route with his footwork before advancing downfield.
Vick's pass is a bad one. It hangs in the air too long. But Bell doesn't care. Bell rises into the air and plucks the ball from above Ogletree's head like an All-Pro wide receiver.
Having a great quarterback and a great offensive coordinator helps a lot when you're a running back trying to play wide receiver. On this play, the Rams attempt to confuse Roethlisberger with a late shift at the snap. The defense was initially showing Cover-4 but rotated their safeties to Cover-3 just before the ball was snapped. Bell isn't really running a route. He's advancing a few paces upfield before turning around to look back at his quarterback. Against Cover-3, this is a perfect outlet for Roethlisberger.
The slot receiver runs directly down the seam, holding the linebacker to that side of the field inside longer than he's supposed to be inside. Because the slot receiver is a deep threat, the cornerback to that side has to account for his zone and is also attracted by the slot receiver's route. This means Bell is left completely uncovered underneath and Roethlisberger has a clear throwing lane to get the ball to him as fast as possible.
By getting the ball out quickly, Roethlisberger offers Bell an opportunity to turn and act like a running back. He evades one defensive back and drags the linebacker with him for a first down.
When Bell lines up out wide, it's extremely difficult for linebackers to cover him and extremely difficult for defensive backs to tackle him. Few teams will be playing press-man coverage against the Steelers because of Antonio Brown's presence outside and the threat of the running game, so Bell is in a position where he can catch 70 or 80 passes in 13 games. He previously caught 83 in 2014 and that Steelers team had many more weapons than this one currently has.
Although Williams wasn't on the field for either of those plays, the Steelers did have at least one snap with both running backs on the field during that six-game stretch last season. It was the type of play that Roethlisberger is referring to where neither player lines up as a receiver but Bell isn't playing running back either. He motioned across the formation and was behind the offensive line when the ball was snapped. That allowed Vick to flick the ball to him while Williams drew the defense's attention on a play fake.
With a greater commitment to these personnel packages, Haley should be able to create more opportunities for both players from similar looking plays.
Bell should be an unquestioned RB1 and while you won't be able to count on Williams to consistently produce like a RB2 or RB1, he shouldn't be looked at as worse than a RB3. Starting both Bell and Williams in leagues where you have three starting running backs or even two starting running backs and a flex shouldn't be a problem. You're taking a big risk by starting two backs from one team but your upside should be greater than starting a Jay Ajayi, Matt Jones or T.J. Yeldon type.