You can’t call it a hold out because he technically wasn’t under contract, but the results were pretty much the same. Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell has skipped most of training camp by not signing his franchise tag tender and missed out on plenty of hot days in the sun. According to the NFL Network, Bell will sign his one-year contract and report to the team next week.
According to the report, this was always Bell’s “plan.”
“We will be ready for (Bell) whenever he gets here,” Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger told ESPN. “We always want our guys here. But he didn’t have to be here. So, we want him here because he’s an amazing football player and he helps this team. So, when he gets here, hopefully it won’t take him long to get into football shape.”
https://twitter.com/steelers/status/900394439054680064
Bell is due to make $12.1 million this season on his franchise tender which, for some math reason, makes him the highest paid running back (per season) in the league. Bell and the Steelers couldn’t reach a long term agreement this off-season and Bell reportedly wants No. 1 running back money and No. 2 wide receiver money. That’s basically what he’s getting with his $12.1 million and with the tag so high (and the money guaranteed), there was little incentive for him to take anything the Steelers were offering.
Is this Bell’s last season in Pittsburgh? The smart money, at least, says he’ll be an unrestricted free agent next year and get to find his market value. If the Steelers are willing to match whatever he nets, he could be back. I think it’s more likely he ends up somewhere like Tampa Bay or Kansas City.
Le'Veon Bell is expected to return from his holdout next week.
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📺 | @AKinkhabwala https://t.co/1WSrcivfRg
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) August 24, 2017
Last season Bell played in 12 games for the Steelers and carried the ball 261 times for 1,268 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging 4.9 yards per carry. He caught 75 passes for 616 yards and two touchdowns.
In the meantime that means more work for rookie running back James Conner. Conner carried the ball 20 times for 98 yards in Pittsburgh’s preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons last weekend.
Conner was a third round pick out of Pitt last April. In his final season with the Panthers, he carried the ball 216 times for 1,092 yards and 16 touchdowns. He caught 21 passes for 302 yards and four touchdowns and will likely see a lot of touches in real games this season as the team tries to prepare for life without Bell in 2018.
Bears lock in left tackle
Regardless of how long the Chicago Bears’ rebuild will take, they want to keep their key pieces in place. Wednesday the team announced they’d reached agreement with left tackle Charles Leno on a four year contract extension worth $38 million with $21 million in guaranteed cash.
Bears and LT Charles Leno Jr closing in on 4-year, $38m extension with $21.5m in guarantees source says. Former 7th-rounder gets paid.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) August 23, 2017
Leno was in the final year of his old contract and would have been a free agent after the season. Leno, and left guard Kyle Long, are one of the better left sides in the game and now the Bears have them both under contract for the next few seasons.
Leno has started 29 consecutive games at left tackle and has been one of the few consistent contributors on Chicago’s offense. The team drafted him int he seventh round out of Boise State in 2014.
Getting caught up
A busy weekend helped plenty of stories fall through the cracks. Here’s a rundown to get all of us up to speed.
Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell told reporters he believes defensive end Ezekiel Ansah will be ready for action in Week One of the regular season. Ansah has been on the team’s Physically Unable to Perform list with an ankle injury for all of training camp. Ansah had a down year in 2016, staring and playing in 13 games with 35 tackles and just two sacks. The year before he recorded 14.5 sacks.
https://twitter.com/ESPNHQ/status/900523528843386884
Jerry Kramer and Robert Brazile were announced as senior Hall of Fame finalists Thursday. Kramer played 11 years, all with the Green Bay Packers as a right guard from 1958-1968 and spent two seasons doubling as the team’s kicker. Brazile was an outside linebacker for the Houston Oilers from 1975-1984 and had 13 career interceptions and 14 career fumble recoveries. He was a seven time Pro Bowler and two time All Pro.
The Cleveland Browns cut defensive lineman Desmond Bryant and a four-year stint with the team. He did not play in 2016 after tearing his pectoral muscle in training camp. Bryant, a 6-5, 290 pound tackle, recorded 33 tackles and six sacks for the Browns back in 2015. He was originally an undrafted free agent out of Harvard in 2009 with the Oakland Raiders where he spent four seasons. Cutting Bryant opened up $3 million in salary cap room and the team used some of it to sign defensive lineman Brandon Thompson. Thompson had spent all four of his first seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals and was a third round pick out of Clemson in 2012. Last year he recorded eight tackles and half a sack, appearing in just nine games.
Los Angeles Chargers offensive lineman Max Tuerk has been suspended for the first four games of the 2017 season after violating the NFL’s performance enhancing drugs policy. He blamed the failed test on over the counter supplements. Tuerk was a third round pick for the Chargers in the 2016 NFL Draft.
Max Tuerk suspended first four games of the 2017 season.
READ: https://t.co/Thi8bDgAff pic.twitter.com/cDixaoqLHI
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) August 22, 2017
The Arizona Cardinals got some good news from starting linebacker Deone Bucannon. The team announced this week they were activating him from the PUP list. Bucannon started and played in 13 games last season, recording 89 tackles, one fumble recovery and two passes defended.
The Seattle Seahawks bolstered their offensive line depth, trading a fifth round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for offensive lineman Matt Tobin and a seventh round pick. Tobin has been in the NFL since 2013 when the Eagles signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Iowa.
Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. has been charged with three misdemeanor offenses all coming from a July arrest. Fowler is accused of punching a man and stepping on his glasses in a move that should make him a shoe-in during the next Cobra Kai Dojo recruitment drive.
Jags Dante Fowler Officially Charged With Throwing Man’s Henny in a Lake After Fight Over His Driving (Video) https://t.co/ZYT985GVbY pic.twitter.com/WKMhqxDorl
— Robert Littal BSO (@BSO) August 21, 2017
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