Bettis’ take

“He’s an incredible football player. I spent a little time with him, talked football, talked running and got a chance to see how he thinks and he thinks the correct way as a running back. I always felt as a running back my biggest and best attribute was my brain and how I approached running the football. And I felt I could manage myself around the football field regardless of my speed and that kind of thing. Well, he thinks the same way but he’s a lot faster than I was. It’s a chess game being played so he’s always 1-2-3 steps ahead, which will serve him well as he gets older and he gets craftier.

“So I just think the sky is the limit for him and his ability.”

Is he worth the money, whether it is what the Steelers will pay him this year or what Bell wants to be paid?

“Oh, he’s definitely worth the money,” Bettis said. “You have to look at it from a defensive perspective. And so here’s the question: Do defenses work to defend against him? For instance, when I was playing, defenses had to come into the game saying we’ve got to stop 36. All right? So with that comes value. So now defenses say, we’re willing to go one on one on the outside because we have to make sure we stop 36.

off your wide receivers and your quarterback. If you have a guy like Le’Veon Bell and Ben Roethlisberger, the question becomes as a defensive coordinator, who do I stop? Well, you’ve got to stop Le’Veon. Now I can’t double team Antonio and now you get a different threat. Now I have to put somebody in there who can defend him. I can’t put a linebacker on him. So now you’ve stretched the defense even more, where now you put him in motion, who goes with him? Does that inside linebacker go with him? Now you create a mismatch with regular personnel and that’s rare.

the ability to do, No. 1, and also what the defense has to do to defend against him.”

Bettis foresees no problem for Bell to assimilate quickly back into the Steelers offense after missing the preseason. What concerns him is the possibility of a muscle pull early-on, like a hamstring.

He also believes the Steelers should be a little more discerning how they use him.

“You have to be conscious of how much work he’s getting because he’s so vital in the passing game as well. So you have to be careful that you’re not overusing him on the field because when you get fatigued and tired, that’s when you get the greatest risk and chance for injuries to happen.”