The Le’Veon Bell saga in Pittsburgh has no signs of ending. This is bad news for the All-Pro running back, because he has until this upcoming Tuesday to report to the team. If he does not, he won’t be eligible to suit up for the team this season, costing him an entire year of football.
As it turns out, it’s unlikely that we’ll see Bell take the field this season, according to a report by Adam Schefter of ESPN.
Steelers’ running back Le'Veon Bell is unlikely to report to the team by Tuesday's deadline, which would make him ineligible to play the rest of this season, multiple league sources tell ESPN.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 11, 2018
Bell held out during preseason hoping to get a new deal from the team, but that never came to fruition. From there, it’s been a battle to see who will blink first, and despite the fact that Pittsburgh listened to trade offers, Bell stayed on the roster. In response, he has continued to hold out, even amid the occasional report that he would return to the team.
The importance of Tuesday, as explained by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, was basically that Bell was either going to return, get paid $6 million, and become a free agent in March, or just put all his focus on hitting the market come March. The Steelers will be fine without him, as James Conner has been a revelation in the backfield, but for Bell, it now looks more obvious than ever that he won’t play his home games in Heinz Field next year.
