You might recall in an article that I wrote yesterday recounting Pro Football Focus’ pitch for Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell being the best running back in the game that the author mentioned the running back lining up at wide receiver, either on the outside or in the slot, 29 times over the course of the six games in which he played.
With Bell set to make his 2016 debut tomorrow, I thought it would be a good time to try to set the table for what we might expect in that regard, because while the raw numbers would indicate that he averaged roughly five or so snaps as a wide receiver per game, a closer look at the context of those numbers reveals a clearer answer.