by Cian Fahey

Le'Veon Bell's post-draft development has been impressive. When Bell initially entered the league as a second-round pick for the Pittsburgh Steelers, he was a heavier back who showed off good quickness for his size. Bell had proven himself as a bell cow runner at Michigan State, where he carried the ball 671 times in three seasons. He wasn't viewed as a dynamic back and didn't show off plus athleticism at the combine. Bell weighed 230 pounds, ran a 4.6 forty, and only really impressed in agility drills. As a rookie he immediately showed off a natural feel for the position and consistently created yards behind an offensive line that wasn't always giving him space to work in

Bell could consistently create space with his footwork and vision, but he didn't show off the explosiveness and elusiveness to fully take advantage of that space. The below play against the Baltimore Ravens perfectly captured his skill set.

(Click here if you are having trouble loading the image.)

This is an impressive play. The above GIF slows down as Bell advances through the line of scrimmage. You can see the slight hesitation he shows to let his blocking develop. The key players he is helping with this subtle movement are David DeCastro (66) and Heath Miller (83). By not immediately planting his foot and making one sharp movement to cut upfield, he forces the defenders engaged with those players to honor the front side of the play for a moment longer. His hesitation also impacts the other linebacker who is engaged on the second level -- you can see him crash inside of DeCastro as Bell advances past his guard's outside shoulder. This puts Bell in space on the second level.

Had Bell been tackled at that point, he would have already gained good yardage, but Bell extends the play by using his peripheral vision and understanding of leverage. Antonio Brown is the receiver coming in from the left. His man has gained good position against the receiver and has an opportunity to close on Bell. Bell recognizes this and makes an excellent jump cut to get to the outside. The timing and explosiveness of Bell's cut allows Brown to take the defender out while also getting in the way of the pursuing safety.

This is the point of the play where Bell's limitations show up. He has a step on the pursuing safety and it's a clear path to the end zone. He gains 43 yards, it's an impressive play. But it really should have been a touchdown once he had reached this point.

Although he only averaged 3.5 yards per carry, it was obvious that Bell was a good running back after his rookie season. It was after his rookie season when things changed.

Bell's skill set hasn't dramatically changed since his rookie year. If you go back and look at his tape you will still see the hesitation, the short-area quickness, and the intelligence. He was even a good receiving back at that point in his career. What has changed is his athleticism. Bell lost a significant amount of weight to become more explosive and dynamic while retaining his power. Those significant changes in athleticism have had a knock-on effect on the technical elements of his skill set. He isn't doing anything differently now than he was back then, he is just doing everything that much quicker. Everything he does is highlighted more now because of his ability to take advantage of the space that he creates.

(Click here if you are having trouble loading the image.)

Take this somewhat similar play from Bell against the Ravens this year. Once again you can see how he uses hesitation crossing the line of scrimmage to bait defenders into aggressive movements before punishing them by breaking towards space. This time he didn't have the same amount of space to work in that he had in the previous GIF, but the speed difference can still be seen. Bell is confronted by a safety, but he is able to accelerate past him with ease to extend the play further downfield than it really should have gone. He created his opportunity to get outside with his technical ability before then creating his opportunity to add another 10 yards to the end of the run with his sheer athleticism.

[ad placeholder 3]

Bell isn't Jamaal Charles. He won't regularly run away from everyone on the field to the point that he looks like Usain Bolt racing a bunch of toddlers. He is now capable of accelerating away from defenders and he doesn't get caught from behind if given a head start. His added athleticism has made him more capable of creating big plays by eluding defenders in space or accelerating past them in tight situations. Those facets of his play have pushed him to an MVP standard of play this year.

Playing in just 12 regular season contests because of a three-game suspension and sitting out one week to rest, Bell accumulated 1,884 total yards on 336 touches. He averaged 4.9 yards per rush and rushed for 105.7 yards per game. The 24-year old became the first player in the history of football to average more than 100 yards rushing and more than 50 yards receiving per game in a season.

Against the Miami Dolphins last week, Bell accounted for 174 yards and two touchdowns on 31 touches. That includes 29 rushes as he averaged 5.8 yards per carry.

(Click here if you are having trouble loading the image.)

The Dolphins have a strong defensive line, but arguably the worst back seven in football. Bell and Brown were regularly able to simply out-athlete them to create big plays. In the above GIF a defensive back executes the scheme perfectly to meet Bell in the backfield, but Bell easily fended him off before outrunning the angle of a linebacker and finishing the play moving forward against another defensive back.

(Click here if you are having trouble loading the image.)

Surpassed their athletic limitations, the back seven defenders on the Dolphins didn't help themselves by blowing assignments and showing a lack of discipline. On this play linebacker Kiko Alonso is too easily pushed outside while the incoming safety doesn't react to Alonso's positioning to take away the inside run. Bell gets an untouched scoring play even though the defensive end to that side of the play did his job.

[ad placeholder 4]

Theoretically the Kansas City Chiefs this week should be a much greater test for Bell than the Dolphins were. That doesn't necessarily mean they have a good chance of containing him.

The Chiefs and Steelers played early in the regular season. While it's tough to take a huge amount away from a game that happened three months ago in the regular season and in a different stadium, it is notable that Bell ran for 144 yards on 18 carries. The Chiefs had Derrick Johnson for that game too. Johnson has since torn his Achilles and is on IR. Johnson isn't just one of the best linebackers in the league, he's one of the most versatile. His comfort working in space and diagnosing running plays in tight allowed the Chiefs to be more aggressive, but it would also have given them a better chance at matching up to Bell.

Bell and the Steelers running game are dangerous when they line the quarterback under center and attempt to run straight through you. That will be a tough challenge for the Chiefs, but the sheer quality of their defenders should give them a chance at controlling the hits they take on those plays. Where the concerns come is when the Steelers function out of spread formations.

(Click here if you are having trouble loading the image.)

In the previous matchup, Bell's longest run of the game came from a shotgun formation. He lined up in the backfield to the right of Ben Roethlisberger while the only tight eligible receiver to the formation was on the quarterback's left. The Steelers cut the backside defender with their right tackle while pulling their center and left guard to clear a running lane for Bell. The left guard was stood up and beaten in his block on the edge, but Bell's quick recognition and quickness cutting inside of the block allowed him to advance downfield. He side-stepped two more defenders, one engaged in a block and one not, while not slowing his stride. The runner was eventually crowded out over the sideline but not until he had put his offense in the red zone.

The natural space that comes with these formations makes it almost impossible to contain Bell. If he's not running through wider lanes or manipulating engaged defenders to find wide-open space, he's being used in the passing game.

(Click here if you are having trouble loading the image.)

Todd Haley added a new wrinkle to his offense for the Miami defense last week. The Dolphins were caught in man coverage when the Steelers sent out a screen design that was designed to deceive them. Roethlisberger originally looked to his left where Bell was running into the flat. While he did that, the opposite side of the field was setting up a wide receiver screen for Brown. Eli Rodgers, the inside slot receiver to that side, sold that he was blocking before turning back to his quarterback. As Rodgers turned back, center Maurkice Pouncey was advancing to the line of scrimmage. Pouncey is the only blocker for Rodgers on this play; the other four linemen stay in to block. Haley has made great use of one-blocker screens this year.

The above play is notable for Bell because it's one on which he is extremely dangerous when he is the screen receiver. He converted a second-and-10 to gain 22 yards against the New England Patriots.

(Click here if you are having trouble loading the image.)

Against the Cleveland Browns, Bell gained 19 yards and a first down on second-and-10.

(Click here if you are having trouble loading the image.)

On a third-and-10 against the Buffalo Bills, Bell gained 32 yards even after running into one of his blockers.

(Click here if you are having trouble loading the image.)

You'll note that two of those three GIFs are essentially the same play designs as the throw to Rodgers against the Dolphins. Haley has done an excellent job of keeping defenses off balance by staying unpredictable. He uses slow-developing screens, quick screens, bubble screens, and throws to any of his skill position players. It's almost impossible to anticipate the screens that Haley calls because even if you think you've keyed in on one, it could feature a different element that you didn't expect. Even with Brown on the field, Bell is the player the Chiefs have to be most wary of on underneath throws. Without Johnson, they will need to consistently flow to the ball and trap Bell before he can get too far downfield.

With the Chiefs' litany of pass rushers and Roethlisberger's apparent injured ankle, screens should feature heavily this weekend. Bell of course isn't limited to screens -- he can line up anywhere on the field and become a mismatch receiver.

Bell has developed into one of the best players in the NFL. He is comfortably the best running back in the NFL because of his versatility. That's no slight to David Johnson or Ezekiel Elliott -- Bell has just developed to the point that he needs to be put on his own pedestal. Even with an unhealthy Roethlisberger, the clash between Bell, Brown, the Steelers offensive line and the Chiefs defense in Kansas City should provide us with one of the most tantalizing matchups of the season.