Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell was drafted in the second round because the Steelers weren’t content with their returning crop of running backs, but it looks like they’ll be relying on those holdovers for a little while longer as they wait for Bell to recover from a mid-foot sprain.
Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Bell’s foot injury is not as serious as the one that will keep Steelers tight end Matt Spaeth, who will be out for a couple of months after having Lisfranc surgery earlier this month. As you’d imagine, though, foot sprains and running the football go together about as well as Antonio Smith and Richie Incognito so Bouchette also reports that it could be “a while” before the Steelers get Bell on the field.
That’s a vague timetable, but it would seem a good bet that he’ll miss this week’s game against the Chiefs and that there’s a strong chance that he’s be done for the preseason. When you add his earlier bruised knee to the mix, it’s a long way from the start to a career that Bell and the Steelers were hoping for and one that makes the old look at running back the current one all over again.
Isaac Redman and Jonathan Dwyer are back in and the Steelers are back to relying on a pair of backs that they made it clear they wanted to at least move to less-intensive roles when they drafted Bell.
