The Pittsburgh Steelers recognized that they had a lot of holes to fill this year during the 2015 NFL Draft, but they obviously didn’t feel like the running back position was one of them even though starter Le’Veon Bell is currently scheduled to miss the first three games of the season because of a suspension.
While many people, myself included, felt like the Steelers might draft a long-term backup to Bell in the later rounds of this year’s draft, they didn’t go that direction at all.
“We do,” said head coach Mike Tomlin, when asked during the post draft press conference if the team is currently comfortable with the running backs already on the roster.
“And I think we addressed that with DeAngelo [Williams] during free agency, knowing that Le’Veon would be facing some type of suspension, Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert added.
As it stands right now, Bell is slated to be back with the Steelers for their first divisional game of the season against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 4. Knowing they’ll be without him, the Steelers appear to be comfortable with having DeAngelo Williams, Dri Archer and Josh Harris as their three running backs for the first three games of the season against the New England Patriots, San Francisco 49ers and St. Louis Rams.
The Steelers did, however, sign Lafayette undrafted free agent running back Ross Scheuerman on Saturday and there’s likely to be another running back or two signed by the time training camp rolls around as they’ll need a few more bodies at the position.
While the Steelers will certainly miss Bell while he sits out suspended at the start of the season, the addition of Williams should help ease the loss of him a little. Additionally, the Steelers have the weapons on offense needed to throw the ball more than they run it, so that will also presumably help get them through the opening of their season while they’re without the services of Bell.
