5 most important Pittsburgh Steelers skill players of the past decade

4. Le’Veon Bell (2013-2017)

Record: 42-20

Win percentage: 67.7%

You could certainly make the case for Le’Veon Bell to be higher on this list considering his reputation as a two-time All-Pro player. However, I chose to slot him in at number four for a few different reasons.

For starters, Bell was a player with just above average efficiency. Though he received a high volume of touches, he still has managed just 4.2 yards per carry in his career, and he never had the speed to threaten to take it the distance as a runner.

What he did possess, however, was an innate ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. Bell was a smooth route runner with very good hands for the position. His 8.3 career yards per catch is still an impressive number, and that is where he did the bulk of his damage.

At the same time, it’s also important to consider how great Pittsburgh’s offensive line was during Bell’s stretch with the team. The Steelers had three Pro Bowl offensive lineman that helped carve out paths on the ground. While Bell was an elite receiver, he really was just a very good high-volume runner. In addition, he had some amazing receivers working on the outside that routinely took defenders out of the box.