Grading Every Pittsburgh Steelers Position Group Performance So Far this Season
By Chris Ross
Running Backs
Fresh off a season in which he put up over 1400 all-purpose yards, James Conner entered this season facing massive expectations. With Le’Veon Bell officially gone and the team seemingly committed to running the offense through the running game, Conner seemed primed for a big year. In some ways, he has lived up to the hype, but overall, he’s been a gigantic disappointment. On the ground, Conner has been tough to watch. With an average of 3.2 yards per carry and just 235 total rushing yards, he’s been tough to watch. The same power and vision that made Conner so effective last year seem to be gone, and the result has been one of the NFL’s worst rushing attacks.
On the other hand, Conner’s play as a receiver has been exceptional. He already has 26 receptions and over 200 yards through the air, and he has provided the Steelers with an excellent backfield target. His receiving talent doesn’t offset his rushing struggles, but it has prevented his season from being a total disaster. Hopefully, with a chance to heal up over the bye week and study what has gone wrong so far, Conner will be able to round back into form.
Beyond Conner, Jaylen Samuels has played relatively well. Like Conner, Samuels has been pretty bad as a runner, but as a receiving threat and occasional wildcat quarterback, Samuels was playing well before his recent injury. Rookie Benny Snell is the true wild-card in this group of running backs. Up until the Chargers game, he had seen almost no game action, but with Conner not at 100%, Snell got 17 carries and looked like a potential difference-maker with 75 rushing yards.
Simply put, the Steelers running backs need to be better at actually running, but have managed to play well enough as receivers to avoid a failing grade. That said, some real improvement is needed moving forward, or else an offense based on the running game will continue to falter.