LeGarrette Blount waived by Pittsburgh Steelers

It's apparently cutdown day in the AFC North for former starting running backs.

The Cleveland Browns announced earlier Tuesday that they had cut Ben Tate after giving him a sizable contract this offseason to be their starting running back.

Now, LeGarrette Blount has also been waived by the Pittsburgh Steelers. A big reason why Pittsburgh is cutting him just one day after the team's 27-24 win over the Titans on Monday Night Football is because Blount left the field before the end of the Steelers' win. His unhappiness over his role with the team led to this, and now he's off the team.

Blount, who signed a two-year, $3.85 million contract with the Steelers in March, played only a couple of snaps against the Titans.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the Steelers planned to "take some action for sure" against Blount after he left the field before the end of Monday's game, and there were even reports of players wanting to see Blount cut.

Blount was second on the Steelers with 266 rushing yards but has not played as big a role in the offense as he envisioned, in large part because Bell has emerged as one of the most dynamic running backs in the NFL. Since running for 121 yards against Carolina on Sept. 21, Blount has only had 48 carries in eight games and hasn't had more than 29 yards in a game.

After this meltdown in Pittsburgh, it's unlikely that Blount will find another job this year, as he now will have the label of "team cancer" on him.