After a great performance Sunday night against the Carolina Panthers, in which he rushed for 147 yards in a Pittsburgh Steelers victory, running back Le’Veon Bell started opening up some eyes nationally in the process.
Three weeks into the 2014 season, Bell leads all NFL players with 461 yards from scrimmage and what made his Week 3 performance even better, was the fact that he had a big night against what could be one of the NFL’s best front sevens. Through three games, he has 315 yards rushing and is averaging 5.9 yards per carry.
After starting his rookie campaign injured and coming out of the gates fairly slowly, Bell picked things up towards the end of last season and gave Steelers fans some hope that general manager Kevin Colbert found them their running back of not only the present, but the future as well.
But as the second-year pro turns out big week after big week, you have to ask the question of whether or not the Michigan State product is the best running back in the NFL right now.
If you ask future Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson, a guy who knows a thing or two about being the NFL’s best running back, that answer is an easy yes.
“Let me just say this: Right now, I would take Le’Veon Bell over any running back in the league,” Tomlinson said recently on NFL Total Access. “… He can do it all, people. He can run inside, he has the speed to turn the corner, he can catch the football, he’s versatile, he’s athletic. I love Le’Veon Bell.”
That description sounds an awful lot like a young Tomlinson.
That’s great praise for Bell, coming from a guy like Tomlinson.
As for being the NFL’s best back right now, I don’t know whether or not I would go there just yet, but Bell has certainly put himself into the conversation.
What separates Bell from most of the backs in the league is the fact that he is a true three-down back in a league where the three-down back has nearly become a thing of the past. He truly has the ability to do it all and the improvements he has made in terms of showing patience as a runner from year one to year two are stunning.
With Adrian Peterson dealing with his off the field troubles and guys like LeSean McCoy and Jamaal Charles yet to reach their 2013 forms, you can make the case for Bell as the NFL’s top runner right now. Marshawn Lynch and DeMarco Murray could be in that conversation, but what separates Bell from both guys is his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. Green Bay’s Eddie Lacy should also be in that conversation as well.
The thing for Bell is to continue to improve and most importantly to stay healthy.
Whether he is the NFL’s top running back right now is debatable, but if he continues to progress, it may not be long before Bell takes his seat at the top of that mountain.
It will be very interesting to see how good Bell can become during the prime of his career and if he can become as dominant as Tomlinson was for a long stretch of time.
If he keeps up his current pace we may find out that answer quicker than anyone probably imagined on draft day in 2013.
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