We all understand how Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin operates pertaining to the run game. If he has a lead back, that guy is going to get the carries. He doesn’t really platoon running backs and has never shown he is willing to use a running-back-by-committee approach regardless of the talent on the roster.
This means as long as he’s healthy, Conner is the guy. It also means if something happens to Conner, the team wants a player who is as close in skills as Conner for the sake of continuity.
I believe this is the main reason we have seen Benny Snell Jr. trim down in the offseason. In fact, going back to Le’Veon Bell, we’ve seen a pattern of Steelers backs coming in a little heavier and leaning out to see success. Bell did it after his first year and Conner did the same. Now we are seeing it from Snell and in rookie Anthony McFarland Jr. we already have a guy who fits the mold.
Considering how much trouble Conner has had with his health during his career, we really hope Tomlin decides to take these two guys who are basically clones of each other physically and utilize both so Conner can be healthy at the end of the season.
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