Steelers’ running back Le’Veon Bell is holding out of the Steelers’ training camp, which began Friday, after he and the team were unable to come to terms regarding a contract extension, the Associated Press reports via newyorktimes.com. Pittsburgh designated Bell a franchise player last year, but the star has yet to sign the $12 million franchise tender. General Manager Kevin Colbert has declined to discuss Bell’s contract until after the upcoming season.
“I guess I just gotta get better,” Bell tweeted after the July 17th contract negotiation deadline came and went without a deal in place. Of course, it’s difficult to do that when you don’t show up to play football with your team.
It’s nothing personal, Bell said, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. “I understand from [the Steelers’] side it’s not personal against me; it’s all business. It’s not personal with them, either. I’m trying to do what’s best for me and my family.”
Still, Coach Mike Tomlin says the holdout is taking its toll on the team. “We’re a group that values this team building process and doing it in this [training camp] setting,” said Tomlin, who has called Bell’s holding out an “unfortunate circumstance.” “There are consequences of him [Bell] not being here.”
The most obvious of those consequences is that the Steelers are not as good a football team without Bell. Last year, the fourth-year player rushed for almost 1,300 yards in 12 games. He ranked fourth in the league in the category, averaging 106 per game. He also caught 75 passes for 616 receiving yards, an average of over 50 per game. All told, he generated an average of more than 150 yards of total offense per game for the Steelers a year ago.
So, it’s no wonder teammates like center Maurkice Pouncey are willing to make sacrifices to get Bell to camp. “He can have some of my money,” said Pouncey. “I’m totally fine with that. They can erase a year of my contract. I’m cool with just going out there and playing.”
Bell has not commented on whether or not he will take up on his offer, but he has said he wants to be paid for his multi-dimensional talent.
“I make plays in the passing game, blocking, doing everything, I’m arguably the top running back in the NFL and the No. 2 receiver on the Steelers, even though I play running back,” Bell told Schaffer.
Bell also admitted he had trouble turning down a $12 million. “”More money than you’ve ever seen in your life, it’s hard to walk away from it,” Bell said. “At the same time, I’ve never had that amount of money for 25 years.”
Bell has had his share of struggles aside from the contract discord. In 2015, a knee injury caused him to miss ten games. He was suspended for the first three games of 2016 for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. Then, in the AFC championship game against the Patriots, Bell aggravated a groin injury, and exited after gaining 20 yards on just six carries. The Steelers fell 17-36 in that game.
On March 13, Bell underwent surgery to repair the groin. Doctors gave him a six week recovery timetable, and Bell told ESPN he’d be healthy for offseason workouts.
Healthy he may be; present he is not. Wide receiver Antonio Brown says he has been around the league long enough to know that hold-outs such as Bells are futile, especially in Pittsburgh.
“I just understand the history of how these things work out,” said Brown. “The Steelers never negotiate with civilians, especially when you don’t show up. The first rule of getting better is showing up. But I’m here, everyone’s here, you have to get the year started off on the right foot.”
LT Alejandro Villenueva was there as well. Some speculated that he too might hold out, for as of Thursday, he had yet to sign his one year exclusive rights free agent contract. But, the AP reports that Villanueva arrived “with pen in hand” and was “running sprints by late afternoon.”
ESPN’s Adam Schafer warns that the running back could hold out until “mid-to-late August,” but nobody expects Bell to still be sitting on his couch come September. Fowler confirms that Bell “plans to play a full 16-game season” (Fowler’s words).
“I’m going to play football,” Bell told Fowler.
