Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers hoped running back Le’Veon Bell would be back Wednesday after he missed their first team practice on Monday. However, it appears they need to wait a little longer for their star’s return.

According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Bell was not in attendance for the Steelers’ mandatory 9 am meeting on Wednesday ahead of their Week 1 showdown against the Cleveland Browns.

Bell has not been present the entire offseason after he failed to come to terms on a long-term deal with the team. He still hasn’t signed his $14.5 million franchise tender and will be ineligible to play until he does.

As Rapoport points out, Bell has until 4 pm on Saturday to report and sign his deal in order to be eligible to play in the season opener. If he doesn’t, he misses out on close to $855,000 in salary. But even if he does show up by Saturday, it’s unlikely he does play in Week 1 given his lack of practice time.

Bell, who also held out last season, returned just before the start of the 2017 regular season and was still able to get a handful of practices in before Week 1. But even with the benefit of those practices, he still had a slow start to the season. He picked up just 32 yards on 10 carries in the season opener against the Browns.

If Bell does miss out completely this time around, second-year back James Conner appears set to take over as the team’s starting running back against the Browns.