Another year, another set of speculative propositions for Pittsburgh’s offense.

That’s the way I feel when glancing around and seeing comments on the Internet. The Steelers added Kentucky RB Benny Snell in the fourth round of this year’s NFL Draft and ever since, we’ve heard about him being the perfect fit in a black and gold uniform.

While I have no doubts that Snell is an incredible talent, and one that Steelers Nation will fall in love with, I needed to address the hype surrounding the team’s latest backfield addition. However, the expectations of this rookie should be tempered based on a history of how the Steelers distribute carries.

That is, they traditionally do not distribute them… other than to the top dog on the depth chart.

I want to note that this article is in no way a slight at Snell, rather, a realistic view of what we could expect to see in 2019 based on a pattern of how running backs have been used in the Steelers offense over the last decade.

The best way to explain this is as follows: James Conner had a tremendous amount of hype when he was drafted. So much so, that his jersey was one of the best-selling that offseason. As beloved as he was (and still is) he had to wait his turn in line behind Le’Veon Bell before getting the spotlight.

That same thing could happen with Snell, and has already occurred with last year’s fifth-round pick, Jaylen Samuels… and it has happened in the past, but so has a running back by committee approach as well.

Here’s a breakdown on how the Steelers running backs had their carries distributed over the years. Keep in mind, I tried to stick with a true “RB1” approach. There are a few games where carries were distributed differently due to the starting back getting hurt or heading to the sidelines early with the game well in hand. I made note of those situations below.

Note: With all but a few Michael Vick games in 2015, there are so few designed quarterback running plays that I left quarterback “carries” off of the chart. I didn’t feel that I could accurately gage when a quarterback scrambled versus when a designed pass play broke down. (Which also pertains to Vick.)

Those numbers are also skewed with QB sneaks or victory formation kneel downs counting statistically as a “carry”. So for all intents and purposes, the “other” category means other running backs or the rare instance of a wide receiver end-around play.

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https://www.steelcityunderground.com...-vs-committee/