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Le’Veon Bell is the dark cloud that hovers over the Pittsburgh Steelers this NFL offseason. The Steelers is still under control of Bell, but with the timeframe for the two sides to work out an extension having elapsed, the running back is bound to hit the free agent market next year.
Bell’s situation in Pittsburgh and his relationship with the team have been the hot-button topic for the Steelers, and it has now reached to a point where head coach Mike Tomlin’s patience has seemingly run out, as evidenced by how he spoke about the running back in front of reporters on Wednesday, per Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Tomlin: "I'm done with the Le'Veon questions"
— Ed Bouchette (@EdBouchette) July 25, 2018
The Steelers’ training camp for veterans started on Tuesday, but Bell, who has yet to sign his franchise tag worth $14.544 million, is not expected to take part in the activities just like last year. Also, Bell will likely miss the Steelers’ preseason games, and probably, if he decides to prolong his holdout, even be absent from some of the team’s early regular season contests. Back in 2017, Bell did not put pen into paper until September 4, less than a week before the Steelers kicked off the season in Cleveland.
In the event that Le’Veon Bell does indeed miss some games, Mike Tomlin and the Steelers will rely on second-year tailback James Conner to carry most of the load in the backfield.
Bell rushed for 1,291 yards with nine rushing touchdowns on 321 carries in 2017. He also had 655 receiving yards and a pair of touchdown catches on 85 receptions.
