Fantasy Football’s Most Dangerous- Le’Veon Bell

                Pittsburgh Steelers’ running Le’Veon Bell is the easy choice for this being named the most dangerous running back in fantasy football heading into the 2015 season. He was a top three back all season long last year and was the most dominant back in the league during the latter half of the season. Aside for that, the Steelers’ ball carrier does have another thing that owners might want to consider as a very big risk before they bet the house on him in the draft: suspension.

To begin this discussion, one must first look at what Bell did in the 2014 season. Over the season, he put up a massive 2,215 yards from scrimmage. He also scored 11 touchdowns. Then for the point per reception owners: he simply added another 83 catches onto his already top notch stats.

His biggest contribution to fantasy owners in the 2014 season came as the playoff races were heating up. He scored eight of his touchdowns from Week 11 to Week 16. These numbers easily launched so many fantasy owners from having an outside chance of making the playoffs to becoming league champions.

Looking ahead to 2015, there really is no reason to expect that Bell will not continue to dominate. The Steelers are a team that has always focused on wearing down defensive through the ground game. This will not change. One of the reasons Bell had a bit of a slow start to last season was that the Steelers’ had another running back in LaGarrett Blount. It was not until Blount departed mid season to the Patriots that Bell really began to shine. The final thing that makes Bell such an asset to the Steelers as well as fantasy football owners is the rest of the Steelers’ offense. Defenses cannot simply lock in on Bell and expect to win the game. The Steel Curtain has a bunch of top tier offensive players who are all very capable of destroying a defense. This means that defenses cannot and will not risk loading eight in the box in order to stop Bell. They simply cannot afford to do so unless they would like Antonio Brown to burn them for a 60 yard touchdown reception.

That being said there is one question that those wanting to draft Bell are very fearful of. Bell is facing a possible suspension. Originally, everyone believed it would be a two game suspension. That does not sound like a big deal, but nobody want to spend a top three draft pick on a player they will have to sit as the season gets under way. It is never fun to lose the first two games because then it will feel like you have to play catch up all season long.

However, recently there has been a development. Though it is still highly expected that Bell will only receive a two game suspension, it actually could end up being longer. According to NFL officials, the two game suspension for first offender of the league’s drug and alcohol policy only applies to those who were driving under the influence of alcohol. Bell was driving under the influence of marijuana or as the league’s policy would say “other substances”. Being under the influence of “other substances” can result in up to a four game suspension for first time offenders. It is almost impossible to spend a top overall pick on anyone and have to wait four games for them to take the field.

Time will tell how the suspension for Bell plays out. If it is two games, Bell fans will be very happy. Still there is a lot of danger in drafting any player who has violated league policies. It does not take much, as we all know, for Roger Goodell to simply decide to make an example out of someone. Soon enough your star running back is out for the 2015 season and nobody ever saw it coming.