Le'Veon Bell and Dri Archer's Fantasy Outlook After LeGarrette Blount's Release

When the Pittsburgh Steelers brought aboard LeGarrette Blount this offseason, there were some questions as to how a potential platoon might work between he and incumbent starter Le'Veon Bell. This season, the answer has been fairly simple: There hasn't been a platoon.   

With Bell starring this year, Blount became expendable. The Steelers made that readily apparent heading into their bye week, as they announced Tuesday they have released him:

Well, that was blunt.

Albert Breer of NFL.com has more on the decision:

If you were wondering if this will affect Bell's fantasy stock, well, it probably won't. Bell is currently fourth among running backs in fantasy points scored this season and has scored nine or more fantasy points in all but one game this season, so Blount wasn't exactly hampering Bell's fantasy value.

If anything, this essentially guarantees that Bell will get any and all goal-line touches. For a player with just four total touchdowns on the season, that's a positive. Bell was an RB1 before this news, and he's an RB1 with just a touch more upside now.

Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

Blount's release is unlikely to do much for Dri Archer, either. Archer and Blount have far different skill sets—Blount is a power runner, whereas Archer is quicker and more dangerous in space—so it's not as though Blount was keeping Archer off the field. They were utilized in far different ways.

And given that Archer has just 45 yards from scrimmage on the season, it's hard to imagine he'll suddenly become a major part of Pittsburgh's offense. The Steelers are all about Bell, and the release of Blount only solidifies that fact.

Hit me up on Twitter—I'll answer your fantasy questions and make some corny jokes, too. It's more fun than being Aaron Rodgers right now. OK, not quite. Fine, it's not like that at all. Jeez.