Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell has officially been ruled out of the team's season opener, according to Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Head coach Mike Tomlin said that Bell was the only player ruled out for the opener at this point.
Le’Veon Bell out for Week 1; injury presents fantasy red flag
Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell is out for Week 1. We break down the fantasy implications.
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However, Tomlin did also claim that Bell wasn’t necessarily missing the game due to his injury, but due to his lack of practice time ... which is due to his injury. It’s an interesting situation, given that it’s seemed as though Tomlin has done his best to downplay Bell’s injury from the onset. There are still those who refer to it as a Lisfranc injury and those who are simply calling it a mid-foot sprain.
Whatever the injury ends up being, Bell is out for Week 1. Isaac Redman is set to start in his place, but smart money is on Bell taking over sometime in the coming weeks.
Fantasy Impact: Bell was going to be the starter to begin the season, prior to his injury. The Steelers obviously want to get their running game going, and Bell was to take some of the load off of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. But now he’s out for at least one game, and possibly even more. In the end, he will probably account for some solid fantasy points, but he should be avoided for now.
