What's Next for Pittsburgh Steelers After Waiving LeGarrette Blount?

There was a whole lot going on during the Pittsburgh Steelers' 27-24 win over the Tennessee Titans on Monday night. First, it put the Steelers in second place in the competitive AFC North. Second, it showcased one of the best individual rushing performances of the year by Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell.

Oh, and third, the game also featured a pouting and petulant LeGarrette Blount opting to leave the field prior to the game’s final play. This came after Bell racked up 204 yards rushing on 33 carries. And how many carries did Blount get? Zero. The snub by the coaching staff apparently was more than Blount could take, and he opted for the early out.

Speaking of early out, it took less than 24 hours for the Steelers to decide that this sort of behavior was unacceptable if you want to be part of this team. Late Tuesday morning, the news was first announced via its Twitter feed that Pittsburgh had released the disgruntled running back.

"

We have released running back LeGarrette Blount.

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) November 18, 2014"

Steelers beat writer Alan Robinson of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review shared some insight into how the events of Monday night went down, writing, "Blount, apparently unhappy with his recent lack of carries, dressed and left the team's locker room Monday night even before all of his teammates came off the field following a 27-24 win over the Titans"

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

Robinson’s piece also offered a statement by Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, who said, "We believe the decision to release LeGarrette is in the best interest of the organization and wish him the best of luck"

If you think this move seems swift, you shouldn’t. The Steelers are on a bye week, and they need all of the time they can get to shuffle the running back depth chart and have their house in order for the final five games of the season. ESPN’s Scott Brown hinted in his latest piece that this was more of a final-straw situation than a knee-jerk reaction. 

"That the Steelers moved so swiftly to rid themselves of Blount -- they had time to weigh their options with the team on a bye next Sunday -- shows how quickly his me-first attitude wore thin in Pittsburgh," Brown said.

Now that Blount is out, the next point of business concerns the rushing game going forward. As quickly as Blount was out, practice squad running back Josh Harris was promoted, via the Twitter account of Steelers PR guy Burt Lauten.

"

The @steelers have promoted RB Josh Harris (@JoshHarris25) to their active roster.

— Burt Lauten (@SteelersPRBurt) November 18, 2014"

Harris is a nice player with knowledge of the offense, but he offers something of a minimal skill set. I suspect that the focus will now turn to rookie running back Dri Archer. Yes, the same Dri Archer who has eight total carries on the season. Bleacher Report’s Ian Kenyon might have summed up Archer the best.

"

I loved Dri Archer as a draft prospect. But I've seen nothing to suggest that he can spell LeVeon Bell with any effectiveness.

— Ian Kenyon (@IanKenyonNFL) November 18, 2014"

It is hard to say just how much Archer and Harris can truly spell Bell in the running game. Harris is a rookie who rushed for 2,195 yards in four seasons at Wake Forest, so he is still something of an unknown. The Steelers coaches are going to work Bell, but will he be able to continue for five more regular-season games doing what he did on Monday night, and possibly into the playoffs?

Nevertheless, Pittsburgh has between now and November 30 to figure out if this combination is going to work going forward, or if they will need to seek out additional help. I actually put out this tweet a few hours before Blount was cut, purely as a hypothetical when I first heard the release was eminent.

"

If I'm the Steelers I'm scouring practice squads for RB to replace Blount. Wilder in Cinci, Seastrunk in Tenn and Neal in GB come to mind.

— Curt Popejoy (@NFLdraftboard) November 18, 2014"

If the Steelers are going to use rookies as depth, I would much prefer a player with some upside as opposed to Harris. But the reality is Pittsburgh isn't in the market to make any bold moves here, so those rookies are safe on their team's respective practice squads.

The other name being tossed around is former Cleveland Browns running back Ben Tate. This one is a little hard for me to buy into, mainly because he was released because he was unhappy losing carries to other running backs in Cleveland. Is that situation going to improve if he came to Pittsburgh? ESPN’s Brown echoed this sentiment.

"

I'm hearing that the Steelers have no interest in RB Ben Tate, who was waived by the Browns.

— Scott Brown (@ScottBrown_ESPN) November 18, 2014"

It will be interesting to see what happens between now and Week 13 when the New Orleans Saints come to town. This will be an excellent test for offensive coordinator Todd Haley to see if he can incorporate these two rookie backs into the offense in such a way that it eases some of the work for Bell while remaining productive.