Prior to the arrival of Le’Veon Bell onto the scene and Pittsburgh, and really not until his second season, the Pittsburgh Steelers had rarely made prominent use of their running backs in the passing game outside of as an option for checkdowns. I have long thought that in hindsight Rashard Mendenhall could have been a much greater asset had he been drafted in 2013 and used the way Bell was, behind this offensive line and with the mindset now ingrained into the running back position in the passing game. But I digress.
Even with Bell gone, the Steelers still value the running back as a receiver.