Shutout said:
He goes anywhere except LeVeon's house to smoke dope.
In all reality, he should be in the top 10 discussion at the position because he played to that level when needed last year and at this rate, there is little guarantee that Bell just steps in week 5 and rolls without injury or other off field issues. I can see a scenario where he comes back but does not start week 5 due to preparedness and they have a week 8 bye so in all reality, you may only have Bell for 2 weeks by the time Week 9 rolls around and by then, the FF season is pretty set and you know if you are in it to win it or what not. So I think DWIl has tremendous value for at LEAST five of the first 8 weeks of the season for some owners.
We can't predict whether he will be injured between now & then, or if there will be other off-field issues. Barring those things, however, it's safe to assume that week 5, Bell will be the main RB in Pittsburgh, & will get the vast majority of the touches.
Bell's rookie year, he missed the first few games because of a foot sprain (feared to be a lis franc at the time). He returned in week 3 & got 20 touches, even though he was expected to be out longer,
and they had a bye in week 4.
Also, same season, he gets KTFO against Baltimore in week 13, is out cold on the field, but is cleared to play & the coaches give him 20 touches the next week.
Last year, after D Will was the #2 rusher in the NFL the first 2 weeks, Bell returns week 3 & gets 26 touches (Williams got 1).
I think it's safe to say that the Pitt coaches will play Bell, without restrictions, when he returns from suspension. It's also fairly safe to assume Williams will become all but useless (ff-speaking) once Bell returns, barring injury. Until Bell got hurt against Cincy, Williams didn't get more than 5 touches in a game after Bell's return.