Le'Veon Bell Is the Undisputed Top Player in Fantasy Football... Again

The sky is blue, water is wet and Le'Veon Bell is the top-ranked fantasy football player in standard and PPR formats... again.

In the last three years, including 2015 (Bell played just six games that year due to a suspension to start the year and a torn MCL to end the year), no other running back has produced more top-12 weekly finishes than Bell. While other running backs have performed better over that three-year stretch, when healthy there is no doubt Bell is the best of the bunch.

Graph courtesy of ffstatistics.com

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Still the One

The preface to any argument for Bell is "when healthy." The fact that Bell has just played one full season in the NFL is where some fantasy owners may draw the line in the sand when deciding between Todd Gurley, David Johnson, Ezekiel Elliott and Bell. When you compare his health history with the other three in the quartet vying for the top-ranked fantasy football player in 2018, however, none of them have played every game. Such is the life of an NFL running back.

Of course, there are caveats to that. Elliott's missed time was due to a suspension and the team's decision to rest the running back during a 13-3 season. Gurley missed games his rookie year while he recovered from an injury in college.

Bell's "when healthy" tag, however, is misleading. He is still one of the most explosive players in the league. He is still a touchdown threat every time he touches the ball. Despite missing 22 percent of his games since entering the league in 2013, Bell still leads all running backs in total snaps played over that stretch. Part of that is due to an influx of young running backs who have come into the league over the last two years. The other half of the equation, however, is a testament to how vital a role Bell plays in one of the premier offenses in the league.

The Steelers last year ranked in the top five in both points per game as well as most plays per game. They have the best wide receiver in the game to keep defenses in a perpetual backpedal to avoid the big play. Pro Football Focus ranked the Steelers' offensive line as the 12th best in the league. There's also reason to speculate Pittsburgh's offense will do even better in 2018.

Pittsburgh will start the season with a new offensive coordinator. Randy Fichtner takes over for Todd Haley. The last time Fichtner ran an offense was in college at Memphis. His offense was predicated on upping the tempo, forcing defenses to run basic coverages.

“As a play-caller, Randy never got credit for this publicly, but he was one of the pioneers of tempo," said former Memphis head coach Tommy West.

For the first time in his career, Bell led the league in rushing last year. He tallied this despite, the Steelers running the ball only 41 percent of the time. In six seasons as offensive coordinator at Memphis, the Tigers ran the ball on 54 percent of its plays. The combination of more plays for a running back who averages more snaps than any other running back in the league and a higher percentage of running plays equates to more opportunity to improve on his second-place finish among running backs last season.

This is coming off a season which saw Bell finish in the top-three in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, rushing yards per game, carries, running back receptions, yards from scrimmage, all-purpose yards, touches. The only running back to achieve such a feat.

No other player has performed better over the last two years, ranking second and third at year's end, respectively. Seven of the 10 best fantasy football seasons at running back were produced by players aged 26-28. Bell is 26.

In the age where three-down backs are relics. No other running back gives you the consistency, opportunity, the history of success nor supporting weapons quite like Bell and Pittsburgh. While some other players may be the trendier pick, no one has a better ceiling and higher floor than Bell. Like most fantasy football draft decisions, it's about risk vs. reward, in the case of Bell, there is no debate.

Bell is the top player in fantasy football...again.

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