Le’Veon Bell skipped nearly all of final walkthrough of season

Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell said after the season he “definitely” wanted to be back in Pittsburgh next season.

He apparently did not feel as strongly about their final practice of the year.

Tucked into the end of a season wrap-up by Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was news that Bell skipped all but the final five minutes of the Saturday walk-through before last week’s loss to the Jaguars.

He also reportedly showed up later than the deadline set by coach Mike Tomlin for game days, as the coach wants players and staff there two hours before kickoff and he ignored that instruction.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/01/19/report-leveon-bell-skipped-nearly-all-of-final-walkthrough-of-season/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Wow this falls on Tomlin! I know he'll be here for the next 150 yrs but dude needs to go!

This from Bouchette article at PPG:

Quote :

As another example, Tomlin wants players and coaches to report to the locker room two hours before kickoff for games. That was continually ignored by both players and a coach or two.

Quote :

Not only did Bell arrive much later than that for the playoff game against Jacksonville (as well as one coach), he missed practically the entire Saturday walk-through the day before, showing up about five minutes before practice ended.

Tomlin needs a firmer hand. In my mind any coaches not following a basic rule like this need to be shown the door.  Players should sit the game they are late for. Bell sees the success of Blount and Harrison...whine, quit on team, get released, go where you want when you want to go there. Harrison should have been made to ride out the rest of season. It only ended up being 2 more games. Now he gets to walk to the cheats.

Le’Veon Bell blew off the Steelers' last walk-through — and more from a wild season

ED BOUCHETTE
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
JAN 19, 2018

Bell performed as well as expected in 2017 and made All-Pro again. But he also threatened to sit out the year if they put the franchise tag on him for the second time. That tag will be 20 percent higher than last year’s $12.12 million, so make it $14.57.

It’s probably an idle threat, but the Steelers have to be reaching a point where they ask, is he worth it? He turned down their offer last year of a contract that would have paid him more than $12 million on average per year and more than $30 million in the first two. The next highest-paid backs earn $8.5 million per year. His agent wanted to take it, Bell did not.

So what’s to make anyone think they can come to terms on a multiple-year deal this time? If they can’t, using that franchise tag would stress their salary cap because it all would count against it in 2018. Over The Cap pegs their cap room at $2.7 million, pending a rise in the cap, for their top 51 contracts (the only ones who count in the offseason). That does not include Bell.

If they do reach the breaking point, they could use that $14.57 million elsewhere — or not make moves to find the room — and draft another halfback in the first or second round. If Bell leaves as a free agent, the Steelers would receive a compensatory draft pick in 2019, perhaps in the third round.

It’s possible Le’Veon Bell will not play for the Steelers in 2018.

to read rest of article:

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2018/01/19/leveon-bell-contract-negotation-holdout-Mike-Tomlin-Kevin-Colbert-Art-Rooney-Ryan-Shazier/stories/201801180124

You can't make this stuff up

They should let Bell walk and those coaches too. Pick up Dion Lewis in FA for half the price Bell wants.

Just another reason to draft or pick up a FA and let Bell go. With our O-Line a lot of RBs are going to look awesome.

Bell needs to go. I'm sick of his antics and selfish behavior. Draft someone that wants to win championships, not make as much $$$ as possible. Akrum Wadley out of Iowa sounds good to me.

Let Bell walk and use that cash to fill some other holes. Draft a RB.

Let's use Bell's $12 million franchise savings and get a free agent linebacker then draft a RB. The draft is supposed to be filled with good RBs this year. I know Bell finished 3rd, or whatever, in rushing this year, but I never felt like we could ride the run game and control the clock/game with him. Despite the fact he was running behind multiple Pro bowl OL.

This new story is really troubling. Having Tomlin shoot his mouth of about the SB in November and players following suit is one thing. Allowing blatant disrespect for the team and not showing on time and for practices is a very different level of not being authoritative. Whether Haley was the coach, or one of them, they all should go if they can't lead by example and follow the team schedule. I would have hated it, and so would everyone here, but if Bell was made to sit last week it would have sent a strong team message. If AB had been punished last year maybe Bell would have been less inclined to pull this end of the year nonsense

What Bell doesn't seem to grasp is if they went to the SB and Bell won MVP or had a huge game, nothing would have helped his value more. I said it above too, but I believe the way Blout and Harrison situations were handled enabled Bell. You complain about contract 2 games before divisional round, you let it known you will hold out or retire, you show up for the last 5 minutes of the walk thru, you don't get franchised and Steelers let you walk. You're then free to sign a stupid high paying contract with Miami, or whoever, and 2 years later your begging to come back to Pittsburgh like Harrison, Wallace and Holmes.

this draft class is deeep in quality rb's. the problem is the steelers have big needs from either this draft or free agency. personally i think they need 2 ILB's , plus a run stuffing NT. not to mention an upgrade over mike mitchell.

It’s the coaching staff’s responsibility to set and enforce the rules. Why lose the talent? So they can go to another team whose coaching staff does enforce the rules? So they end up with our talented players and we’re still stuck with a dysfunctional coaching staff. Great.

I’d rather keep the talent and bring in coaches who can keep discipline and get the most out of our talent.

Le’Veon Bell still showed up before most of his teammates.

— Adam Bittner (@fugimaster24) January 19, 2018

To return to Super Bowl, Steelers should run from Le'Veon Bell

Mike DeCourcy
Published on Jan. 20, 2018

It is possible that if Le’Veon Bell were the sort of running back who could change a game with a single run or define a team’s attack with his persistent battering, he might be worth the impertinent tweets and the pay-me-now ethic and the multiple suspensions and the too-frequent injuries and the consistent tardiness and even the $14.6 million he is likely to cost in 2018 under the NFL’s franchise tag.

Bell is not that player, though.

If the Pittsburgh Steelers want to find their way back to the Super Bowl, they’ll need to accept that their addiction to Bell’s skill set is not worth the exorbitant amount of money it leeches from them.

to read rest of article:

http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/news/steelers-leveon-bell-contract-news-nfl-franchise-tag-free-agent-holdout-retire-running-back/19ejufztt8cdi186bdoj7jkovi

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

Bell needs to go. I'm sick of his antics and selfish behavior. Draft someone that wants to win championships, not make as much $$$ as possible. Akrum Wadley out of Iowa sounds good to me.

Homey. He averaged 5.4 YPC. Not bad. https://247sports.com/player/akrum-wadley-28860

It won't happen 9 he'll be long gone) but this would be my pick: https://247sports.com/Player/Saquon-Barkley-35574

Yeah I'd take Barkley if he was on the board, lol, he's going to be #1 or #2 off the board though. Boy that would be nice though, that guy is massively talented.

I really do like Wadley because he's got speed, he's played in a pro-style offense, and has shown that he can run between the tackles, get the edge, and he's a pretty damn good pass catching back as well. If they let Bell go, which I honestly don't see happening, I think Wadley could be a good fit. It wouldn't have to all be on his shoulders either, I think Ridley/Conner could help shoulder the load in a running back committee. He's got the tools to be the next Kareem Hunt, and Iowa didn't run the wheels off of Wadley either, he split carries with the likes of James Butler.

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

Yeah I'd take Barkley if he was on the board, lol, he's going to be #1 or #2 off the board though. Boy that would be nice though, that guy is massively talented.

I really do like Wadley because he's got speed, he's played in a pro-style offense, and has shown that he can run between the tackles, get the edge, and he's a pretty damn good pass catching back as well. If they let Bell go, which I honestly don't see happening, I think Wadley could be a good fit. It wouldn't have to all be on his shoulders either, I think Ridley/Conner could help shoulder the load in a running back committee. He's got the tools to be the next Kareem Hunt, and Iowa didn't run the wheels off of Wadley either, he split carries with the likes of James Butler.

Barkley is projected to go #1 in a few mocks. Not only is he talented but his team first attitude is unquestionable.
Wadley sounds like a great fit too. Will he be there?