Steelers Bracing For Lengthy Le’Veon Bell Absence

The Le’Veon Bell saga could end at any time, or it could drag on indefinitely. The Steelers star running back has yet to report to the team and will miss Pittsburgh’s season opener against the Browns today. While there has been speculation that the Steelers could look to trade Bell, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports that the team has no interest in dealing him, and some around the league believe he could return before the end of the month (Twitter link).

Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com agrees (via Twitter) that Pittsburgh will not look to trade Bell, though he does not offer a potential timeframe on Bell’s return. Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, though, says that team brass is bracing for a lengthy absence of at least four to six weeks, and some within the organization do not believe that Bell will return prior to Week 10 (by returning for Week 10, Bell will be able to preserve his free agent status at the end of the season).

Bell’s teammates, meanwhile, appear perplexed by the situation. Peter Schrager of FoxSports.com tweets that Bell told the Steelers’ offensive lineman that he would be with the team this week, and when he failed to report, the O-lineman called and texted their teammate but could not get a straight answer from him.

2017 third-rounder James Conner will start for the Steelers in Bell’s absence, and while he will surely not be able to replicate Bell’s production, he has the ability to be a quality back in the league and should give the team enough of a threat out of the backfield to keep its offense humming.

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