The Pittsburgh Steelers are quickly running out of time to secure a long-term deal with star running back Le’Veon Bell. If they do fail to lock up Bell, they likely won’t see him for the entirety of training camp. But Adam Schefter of ESPN thinks it’s possible Bell might be gone for much, much longer.

In an interview on SiriusXM NFL Radio (per Ross Tucker), Schefter believes Bell could elect to sit out the entire first half of the 2018 season if he doesn’t get his deal.

“I think it's possible Le'Veon Bell sits out the first half of the year if he doesn't get a long term deal done,” Schefter said.

“The goal at that point would be to hit 2019 free agency healthy, not rack up another 400 touches.”

It would obviously be a huge and controversial move by Bell to take half the year off. It makes sense from a personal sense since he’d be incentivized to minimize the risk of injury as much as possible ahead of his likely unrestricted free agency next offseason.

However, that move could potentially alienate fans as well as his own teammates, which could see a good deal of tension inside the Steelers locker room during the second half of the season. Antonio Brown has already called out Bell to show up for relatively inconsequential spring workouts, what more if Bell’s MIA when it actually matters. Bell would also lose millions in this year's salary if he doesn't show up.

With that in mind, it seems unlikely that Bell actually goes through with Schefter’s far-out scenario. But if he feels strongly enough about getting that huge long-term deal at all costs, it might not be completely off the table.