NFL teams
Jeremy Fowler, senior NFL national reporter 8y

Le'Veon Bell, DeAngelo Williams may play together

NFL, Pittsburgh Steelers

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers' offense is in the laboratory, cooking up ways to use running backs Le'Veon Bell and DeAngelo Williams together.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger acknowledged the possibility of Williams and Bell in the same backfield for Sunday night's game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Williams rushed for 258 yards and scored three touchdowns while Bell served a three-game suspension for missed drug tests.

"Listen, we're not going to put [Bell] at wide receiver and DeAngelo at running back," Roethlisberger said. "But we will have them both on the field and move them out of the backfield. We're not going to take RB off the front of [Bell's] name and put WR. But I definitely think he is one of our best receivers."

In Bell's last healthy season, he recorded 83 catches for 854 yards. He's got the skill set of a top-shelf slot receiver. But he's also the primary back, which means the Steelers won't overhaul the game plan just to get Bell and Williams equal touches.

Last season, Williams averaged about 17 carries a game as a starter but logged 13 total carries in the five games Bell played in and finished. Williams could get a bigger workload than that, but Bell will get the most play.

Bell has fully recovered from reconstructive knee surgery and has remained in top shape while waiting to play. Coach Mike Tomlin said this week that "you're going to see a lot of Le'Veon Bell and probably a lot of him on Sunday."

Roethlisberger expects Bell to get mentally caught up with the game plan in short time.

"There are some new things [to the offense], but he was here early this morning, and I know he'll be ready to go in practice and asking questions," Roethlisberger said. "I don't foresee there being any issue at all."

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