DeAngelo Williams Fantasy Stats

Once Le'Veon Bell exited Sunday's loss with a groin injury, DeAngelo Williams became Pittsburgh's primary rusher. Williams has always filled in nicely whenever Bell has missed time and Sunday was no different. He ended the day with 34 rushing yards and a score on 14 carries. Those stats were padded further with seven receptions for 51 yards. It was an overall productive performance for the best backup in the NFL. Now a free agent, DeAngelo Williams may be a hot commodity for RB-needy teams looking for a spark.

DeAngelo Williams hasn't seen significant playing time since all the way back in October. Since then, he's undergone knee surgery and had his return repeatedly delayed. With Le'Veon Bell confirmed to get Week 17 off, DeAngelo will look to acclimate himself as the team's primary rusher. Workload is an obvious concern here, but any owner who was leaning on Bell needs to lock Williams into their lineup. Between his track record, the matchup and Pittsburgh's goal of getting him back in game shape, DeAngelo Williams is a borderline RB1 to close out the season.

It seems as if this pattern has been going on for at least a month by now. Mike Tomlin keeps hinting toward DeAngelo Williams' return only for him to get ruled out late over the weekend. According to ESPN's Britt McHenry, the reason for delaying his return another week was due to swelling in his surgically repaired knee Sunday morning. It sounds as if that was a precautionary matter now that he's on a clearer path to suiting up in Week 16. As far as fantasy is concerned, the odds of DeAngelo having an impact on fantasy championships are slim to none. You'd almost be better off using that roster spot to block your opponent from scooping up a streaming tight end or defense.

It's about time. Mike Tomlin had been talking up DeAngelo Williams' potential return for a few weeks now. His full participation in practice means he should suit up in Week 15 to back up Le'Veon Bell. DeAngelo needs to be rostered for any and all Bell owners.

DeAngelo Williams practiced on Wednesday, albeit in a limited capacity. A returning DeAngelo would be a huge boost for the Steelers depth chart as Fitzgerald Toussaint isn't a reliable handcuff to Le'Veon Bell. Bell owners need to snag Williams in any and all formats heading into the fantasy playoffs.

After Mike Tomlin stated that DeAngelo Williams had a good shot at playing on Sunday, the 33-year old running back still hasn't seen the practice field. DeAngelo hasn't practiced since having his meniscus repaired so it's a bit concerning for his Week 13 outlook. Le'Veon Bell owners will want to pounce on adding Williams the second the Steelers indicate that he will be active. Until then, Fitzgerald Toussaint will remain the backup but he himself doesn't really possess much fantasy value.

DeAngelo Williams had knee surgery on Tuesday and could be out 2-3 weeks. This effectively eliminates him from fantasy consideration and puts Fitzgerald Toussaint on the radar. Fantasy owners shouldn't rush out to drop Williams nor should they be in any hurry to add Toussaint. Williams is far too proven of a commodity to cross off right away so it will depend entirely on team need and who is available in your league. He is certainly droppable for owners who don't already own Bell. We'll keep an eye on this situation as more information becomes available.

DeAngelo Williams is expected to return as the primary backup for Le'Veon Bell in Week 9. This eliminates what little fantasy value Fitzgerald Toussaint had, if he ever had any at all to begin with. Williams is a must own for every Le'Veon Bell owner in all formats. As we've seen with the likes of C.J. Anderson and Devontae Booker or Jeremy Langford and Jordan Howard, running backs who have clear handcuffs require using two roster spots. This is especially true now that we're in the middle of the season. The last thing you want is to lose your RB1 only to have some other playoff team scoop up the team's new starter. Be sure to grab DeAngelo if you've been relying on Bell.

Today has been a hard day for running backs in the world of fantasy. Per ESPN and a variety of other sources,  Pittsburgh Steelers Running Back Le'Veon Bell has been suspended for the first four games of the 2016 NFL season for missing a drug test. This will be the second time in as many seasons that Bell has been suspended for a violation of the NFL's substance abuse policy. Although he plans to appeal the suspension, Bell will likely still miss the first four weeks of the NFL season. The bad news that comes out of this is that DeAngelo Williams' value might become far too high for prospective Bell owners. Before this news came out, Williams' ADP was around 122, putting him right around Round 10/Round 11. Now, though, with the guarantee that he will play at the very least 4 games, Williams may see his ADP skyrocket. The fact that he was so effective last year will also help out. In 2015, DeAngelo Williams averaged 4.5 yards per carry, with just over 900 rushing yards and 11 rushing TDs. This allowed Williams to finish as RB4 in standard scoring last year, even though he only got more than 10 carries in 8 out of 16 games last year. Williams' contributions didn't just end in the run game, either. He was able to haul in 40 passes for over 350 yards as well. This makes Williams a dynamic dual-threat in the Pittsburgh Steelers offense, and a valuable commodity in both standard and PPR leagues. With stats like this where he played a limited role for half the season, Williams is certainly going to soar up draft boards within the next few days.  To make things even more enticing, 2 out of the first 4 games will see the Steelers facing teams whose run defenses ranked towards the very bottom of the league--the Washington Redskins and the Philadelphia Eagles surrendered the 26th and 32nd most rushing yards per game. Williams could have some pretty big games in the first weeks of the 2016 season, enough to give his fantasy owner a leg up on his competition. Another cause for concern in regards to Williams' ADP is that in June, Steelers Offensive Coordinator Todd Haley revealed that the team is going to try to use Williams more this season. This increased usage will allow Williams to produce more, but to the ire of Bell owners, will likely cause Le'Veon to lose some carries. Again, this is both good news and bad news for Williams owners. The good news is that Williams may not become useless after this first four games. We saw this last year after Bell ended up lost for the season during a game against Cincinnati-Bell got hurt, Williams went on his age-defying tear. The bad news is, Williams owners will likely have to wait and see just how much Bell and Williams split carries following Bell's return, and the weekly game of sit-or-start that fantasy owners may have to play can end up causing headaches and costing matchups. Though Williams can be expected to gain more work, following his first 4 starts, nothing is a guarantee. The only guarantee is Williams' ADP is going to go up, and if owners want in on some Pittsburgh backfield stock, they're going to have to pay a premium. Le'Veon Bell now comes with even more risks. With this second suspension, Bell has just crossed the threshold of Stage 2 of the NFL Substance Abuse Program. This means that if Bell is caught with marijuana again, he could miss anywhere from 10 games to a whole season. This is certainly worth noting to anyone in keeper leagues-Bell is a risky pick.  As mentioned previously, the coaching staff wants to try to split carries more between these 2 stud running backs, so there's no guarantee that Bell will be able to continue to put up the superstar numbers that he has had to this point in his career. Bell has also been hurt and missed time in 2 out of his 3 NFL seasons. Though the 2013 injury was just a foot sprain, he also had a concussion that luckily didn't end up costing him any games. The 2015 injury was a significant MCL tear, which can definitely be cause for some more alarm. Though NFL players are coming back better from injuries than they have before (Peyton Manning and Adrian Peterson in 2012 being prime examples), it is still worrisome that a player who is already guaranteed to miss 4 games is also injury prone. There is, however, some good news about the aforementioned information. All of these factors will likely push down Bell's ADP. A player who was once considered a lock for at the very least a Top-5 pick may now see his ADP slip as far as even Round 2, which can be an absolute steal. If you project his 6-game 2015 stats over a full 16 game season, you get the following stats: 301 carries, 1483 yards, 8 touchdowns, 69 targets, 64 receptions, 363 yards. He didn't have any to project, but it is likely he may have contributed a few receiving touchdowns as well. Just those numbers mentioned here, however, would've put him as the Number One Running Back in Standard Scoring Leagues. To further put things in to perspective, Bell was STILL ranked the number one running back in 2015 by Pro Football Focus. One can argue that this is because he did very well in a small sample size, but looking at the run defenses the Steelers faced in the stretch that Bell was healthy, the average ranking in rushing yards allowed per game was 13th. So Bell, coming off of a suspension, was still able to torch a variety of top rushing defenses. For those looking to draft Bell, let everyone else worry about his injury history and his suspension and laugh all the way to the bank when you're able to take one of the most talented overall running backs in the NFL in the second round. However, make sure you build a solid starting lineup, because you may have to be ready as early as round 6 to pull the trigger on DeAngelo Williams.

Le'Veon Bell could be in line for a four-game suspension for missing an off-season drug test. If he does indeed get suspended for the first four games of the season, DeAngelo Williams can be considered an RB1 during the first month of the season. While Williams is sure to see his value skyrocket, Bell is still worth drafting early in fantasy drafts and owners should now be able to get him at a discount. Whoever is playing in Pittsburgh's backfield is primed to put up elite production.