Steelers quarterback Ben Roehtlisberger said Tuesday that he hopes that Conner retains a role on offense once Le'Veon Bell (contract dispute) reports to the team, Sean Gentile of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. "What I would say is, I don't think we put [Conner] on the shelf by any means," Roethlisberger said. "And I will push for James to get as much run as we can because we've seen some great things from him in all phases of football. He's picking up blitzes, he's catching the ball, he's running hard and making plays and playing with a passion, so we need to keep using that."
While Roethlisberger noted that Bell -- who is expected to report to the Steelers during their Week 7 bye -- is "one of the best in the business," the franchise signal-caller acknowledged that Conner has played too well through the first five games to be phased out entirely. In addition to the reasons Roethlisberger laid out for Conner's value in real-life terms, the second-year player has been a top-flight fantasy producer while dominating the backfield snaps for Pittsburgh, amassing 342 rushing yards and five touchdowns while adding 22 receptions for 239 more yards. While Conner's fantasy utility will take a hit once Bell is back in the fold, the Steelers could opt to ease the four-time Pro Bowler back into the mix rather than handing him back the lead role right away, which would still enable Conner to take on a meaningful workload. Furthermore, Pittsburgh may still be motivated to trade Bell prior to the deadline, offering additional incentive for Conner owners to hang tight and wait and see how the situation plays out after the Week 7 bye.