Last season, Le'Veon Bell ended his holdout on Labor Day and reported to the Pittsburgh Steelers. This year it appears the holdout could go longer, and according to Aditi Kinkhabwala of NFL Network, who talked to some of his Steelers teammates, there are “no signs of him here at all.”
The #Steelers first official practice of the regular season begins in two hours. As for Le’Veon Bell, one of his teammates just told me there are “no signs of him here at all.”
— Aditi Kinkhabwala (@AKinkhabwala) September 3, 2018
There was a report out last week that Bell had told his teammates he would be reporting on Labor Day but the Steelers star running back disputed that report. At this point of the holdout, Bell has no leverage unless he hopes that the Steelers will remove the franchise tag and he can become a restricted free agent.
Article Continues BelowAt this point of the season, it's going to be hard for a team to create the cap space to sign him to a deal that would pay him as much as the franchise tag. The franchise tag is worth $14.5 million, and for every week of the season, he misses from here on out he will forfeit 1/17th of the $14.5 million.
Bell wants to make sure that he is healthy and ready to cash in a big payday this offseason, but there is no question that interested teams want to see him on the field this year.
If Bell doesn't report to camp before Sunday, the Steelers will be leaning on James Conner, Jaylen Samuels, and Stevan Ridley to be the guys in the backfield. James Conner has had a nice preseason and will probably be the guy who gets the most touches, but it will be a running back by committee.