Fantasy football impact: Will the Steelers replace their lost touchdowns?

The American way says that you always strive for better things, and when you have better things, you strive to keep those better things. In other words, you add all the touchdowns you can, and you keep your touchdowns around.

In short, the Steelers return 55.56 percent of their 2013 touchdowns, second-lowest in the NFL (I’m omitting scores from quarterbacks, since barely any teams changed quarterbacks between seasons; this is largely for running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends). See the chart:

So, how will the Steelers make up for their lost scores? Let’s see how they hope to do just that.

Roethlisberger is entering his 11^th season and has played the full 16 games in a season only twice, in 2008 and 2013. He has never finished higher than eighth among quarterbacks in fantasy scoring in a season. On the flip side, he’s never finished lower than 21^st, even in his more injury-plagued seasons.

Basically, Roethlisberger is a bye-week fill-in in shallow, one-quarterback leagues. In deeper and/or multi-QB leagues, he’s a fine starter -- he’ll get you points -- but anyone who takes him needs to have another quarterback rostered, as odds are great that Roethlisberger misses at least one game. Still, as a mid-teens quarterback and a guy you don’t start unless you have to, Roethlisberger’s single-game upside is as high as just about any quarterback (see his 400-yard, four-score game in Week 9 last year, or his 367-yard, four-score game in Week 1; his highs are really high).

Bell is still clearly the team’s No. 1, proving his worth as the team’s second-round pick in 2013. After missing the first three weeks of the season, Bell played from Week 4 onwards in 2013, reaching double-digit fantasy points eight times. He was the No. 14 fantasy running back last year, but his average of 12.3 fantasy points per game played would have made him seventh over the full season.

Blount, meanwhile, has had a weird career arc. He had a thousand-yard season as a Tampa Bay rookie in 2010, starting to look relevant. He slipped in 2011 to under 800 yards, then basically lost his job, putting up only 151 yards in 2012. After the Buccaneers released him, though, he latched on with New England. He wasn’t much of a part of the offense early in the season, with only three touchdowns through the season’s first 15 weeks and no games of more than 65 yards, but he came alive late in the season.

Blount had two touchdowns and 76 yards in Week 16, two touchdowns and 189 yards in Week 17, and four touchdowns and 166 yards in the team’s playoff opener. In a three-week span, then, Blount had 431 yards and eight touchdowns, as good a three-game stretch as any running back had in the sport. The late-season production was enough for the Steelers to sign him to a two-year deal in the offseason. He’s not a pass-catcher by any means with only 23 receptions in his career and only three since 2011, but his smash-mouth running ability is helpful as a third-down-type back.

Bell is an elite running back. While it’s possible the presence of Blount and/or Archer will steal some touches, if you’re the Steelers you still want Bell as your *ahem* bell-cow. I’d take him in the early-to-mid second round, maybe 15^th overall, and eighth or ninth at the position.

Blount is a depth or handcuff play; if Bell gets hurt, he’s the likely beneficiary. For all the good Bell did a year ago, he did miss three games and was on the injury report in two others, so the team needed a competent backup. For fantasy drafts, if I had Bell I would target Blount in the early 40s among running backs, around 100^th overall. If I were not the Bell owner, I’d wait another round or two before diving on Blount.

Archer is interesting and will have point-per-reception value, but we’ll need to see how he’s used before he’s anything but a super-deep depth play. Draft him with your last (non-kicker) pick and stash him if you want, but definitely don’t rely on him.

With the exception of one game, Antonio Brown didn’t look like anything special a year ago. He had 196 yards and two touchdowns on nine catches in Week 3 of 2013, but outside of that he had no scores or 90-yard games through Week 8 and he looked like just another low-end WR2.

Brown struggled along with the entire Steelers team early in the season. Bell missed some early games and didn’t start getting really productive until late in the year. Roethlisberger was a well below average fantasy quarterback through Week 8. The Steelers started the season 2-6, but went 6-2 the rest of the way, and the players produced at a similarly reversed clip.

Brown proved he could be the team’s No. 1 receiver with the departure of Mike Wallace, and he’s a fine WR1 in fantasy as well.

The team brought in Moore (who has low-end potential) and Heyward-Bey (who really doesn’t) but the next-most intriguing option is fourth-round pick Martavis Bryant, who has loads and loads of raw talent. His skill set is that of an earlier draft pick, but his skills need refining, which probably is the reason he fell to the fourth round. The best bet is that he’ll have some nice highlights in 2014 but won’t be a real factor in fantasy until 2015 or later.

Brown ought to go as a late WR1 in fantasy drafts. I have him as my seventh overall receiver and in the mid-20s overall. Behind him, no other Steelers wide receiver really shapes up as a fantasy starter. If all goes right for Wheaton, he could be relevant, but I wouldn’t take him in a standard 10-team league at all and he’d be around pick 200 overall for me in deeper leagues. I wouldn’t draft Moore, though could see him being a bye-week fill-in a time or two over the season, and wouldn’t touch Heyward-Bey at all.

As for Bryant, he’s interesting, but probably not ready for the fantasy limelight yet. Like I said, he’ll have highlights, but I have no idea when they’ll be. I might draft him super-late in a deep league out of curiosity, but he’s far from a sure thing.

You won’t draft Miller in basically any league. He’s a low-end TE2 at best, because he is almost entirely without high upside. But Miller will be on the roster of six different teams in your league over the season, for any number of reasons. When you end up picking him up, smile, shrug your shoulders, and drop him after your starter comes off his bye.