That stupid Liz Frank girl continues to haunt the fantasy football world.
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Okay, all kidding aside, terrible news came out of Pittsburgh today, as the Steelers believe that their rookie running back Le’Veon Bell may have suffered a LisFranc injury. Bell had been dealing with foot issues throughout the preseason and was originally diagnosed with just a foot sprain, but not the dreaded LisFranc. This is a killer injury to running backs, as foot injuries tend to linger not just for weeks, but upwards to the entire season. Take Maurice Jones-Drew, for instance. Last season, Jones-Drew suffered the same injury, but wasn’t expected to miss the rest of the season. Weeks went by without MJD in the lineup, until all of a sudden, the season was over.
Meanwhile, the Steelers are hoping that the injury won’t require surgery, but we won’t be certain until Bell gets a second opinion. As of right now, there is no timetable for his return, but this is just terrible news for the young kid, anxious to make his mark in the big leagues. From a fantasy perspective, Bell goes from the most highly regarded rookie player to undraftable, at least as of right now. As for the remainder of the Steelers backfield, I’m not very high on any of these guys from a fantasy perspective. It will likely be a backfield committee consisting of Jonathan Dwyer, Issac Redman and the Hyphen, LaRod Stephens-Howling. If I were forced to choose on of the three, it would probably be Dwyer, who had some encouraging moments in 2012. And perhaps Stephens-Howling serves as a late round flier in drafts because he showed some signs in Arizona last year, despite running behind some horrid blocking. However, at the end of the day, it comes down to the Steelers offensive line, which is absolutely atrocious. Pittsburgh was planning on using Bell as their every-down back, a guy who can get the job done up close, as well as catch the ball out of the backfield.
The running back position was already very scarce in fantasy, but with the news surrounding Bell, it takes another big hit.
Adam Pfeifer is a featured fantasy sports columnist for Rant Sports.
You can follow him on Twitter @aPfeiferRS.
