Le’Veon Bell no longer regarded as a top 10 running back in the NFL

The former Pittsburgh Steelers running back has trended in the wrong direction since leaving town.

During his first five seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Le’Veon Bell ended up earning three trips to the Pro Bowl and two First-Team All-Pro selections. Bell quickly emerged as one of the top running backs in the NFL and his future with the Steelers seemed extremely bright.

Then came this thing called money. Bell wanted a new contract from Pittsburgh in 2018 and instead of paying the running back, the team let him hold out for the entire season and he became a free agent in 2019.

Bell eventually landed with the New York Jets and he was ready to pick right back up where he left off when he used to suit up in black and gold each week. Unfortunately, his first season with the Jets couldn’t have gone much worse.

Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back no longer considered one of the best at his position in the NFL.

A good way to judge how running backs around the league are viewed each year is to take a look at the latest fantasy rankings. Wait, what? Yes, fantasy rankings can actually be helpful for other things besides figuring out which backup receiver to start in Week 14.

Currently, Bell’s fantasy ranking among the running backs around the NFL is not very good. FantasyPros, which compiles a ranking based on the consensus of multiple fantasy experts has the former Steelers rusher listed as the 24th-best running back in the league right now.

If that doesn’t raise a few eyebrows, Bell’s best ranking among all of the experts only has him as the 16th-best back in the NFL currently. He has certainly fallen far compared to just a few years ago when he was a star in Pittsburgh.

Interestingly enough, current Steelers running back James Conner has a higher fantasy ranking than Bell as he is sitting at the No. 21 spot right now.

Now, this doesn’t mean that the former Pittsburgh running back can’t have a bounce-back season in 2020. He’s fully capable of gaining at least some of his old form back, however, none of the top fantasy experts are too confident in this actually happening.