After...

[Oviedo]

After what happened to Dez Bryant after such a long lay off and not in "football shape "

I think the chances of Bell showing up just dropped. Bell is probably thinking hard about what just happened

[Ernie]

Agreed. He's not coming back IMO.

He should have taken the guaranteed 14.5 million and came into camp in game shape.

[SteelBucks]

I don’t think coming back was ever in his plans. Offseason will be fun. Bell wants freedom and the Steelers still own his rights.

[BURGH86STEEL]

I don't think football shape had anything to do with Bryant's injury. Injuries happen and I don't believe that being in or out of football shape prevents injuries from happening. Bell wanted to minimize his risk of injury in the hopes of a bigger pay day.

As a result, Bryant looks like a bigger fool than Bell at this point. Only time will tell if Bell made a mistake.

[SanAntonioSteelerFan]

I don't think football shape had anything to do with Bryant's injury. Injuries happen and I don't believe that being in or out of football shape prevents injuries from happening. Bell wanted to minimize his risk of injury in the hopes of a bigger pay day.

As a result, Bryant looks like a bigger fool than Bell at this point. Only time will tell if Bell made a mistake.

Was Dez Bryant playing the same contract game as Bell?

[Mr.wizard]

I don't think football shape had anything to do with Bryant's injury. Injuries happen and I don't believe that being in or out of football shape prevents injuries from happening. Bell wanted to minimize his risk of injury in the hopes of a bigger pay day.

As a result, Bryant looks like a bigger fool than Bell at this point. Only time will tell if Bell made a mistake.

After seeing what happened to Earl Thomas and now Bryant, I can't really blame Bell for not wanting to step out there with out a long term deal in place.

[Mr.wizard]

Was Dez Bryant playing the same contract game as Bell?

No but he turned down multi year deals from Cleveland and the Saints, he wanted to play for only the rest of the year on a "prove it" deal. Dez wanted free agency next year and improve his value, it didn't work out.

[Buzz]

After what happened to Dez Bryant after such a long lay off and not in "football shape "

I think the chances of Bell showing up just dropped. Bell is probably thinking hard about what just happened

Not sure "Bell" and "thinking hard" should go together in the same statement

[Steel Maniac]

Not sure "Bell" and "thinking hard" should go together in the same statement

I agree. Bell isn't the brightest bulb in the light store. Interesting point about the correlation. I think that a player in Dez position may have tried to get ready too fast to contribute when we all know there's a reason that camp and preseason is more than a month. A month is needed to get into good enough shape to display your talent.

I don't think Bell is going to correlate the Dez situation and the Thomas situation to himself. Personally, I don't think he should play at this point because as we saw last year, it took him at least 3 weeks to get into football shape and thats when he was getting all the reps. So now that he's not getting those reps, won't it take him more then 3 weeks? On the Steelers side of things, he'd be a great compliment to Conner and give Conner the breather he needs but Bell doesn't care about what's good for the team at this point. He's just thinking of his next contract.

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

After seeing what happened to Earl Thomas and now Bryant, I can't really blame Bell for not wanting to step out there with out a long term deal in place.

If Bell was so concerned about jeopardizing his career, he would have signed long-term either last off-season or this. He is instead concerned with earning the highest amount that he can. It's a trade-off - take guaranteed money now and your family is taken care of in case of injury or hold out and hope that you will earn even more money next off-season, but with the risk that something might happen and you might not make it there.

As it is now, Bell is in Pittsburgh, which leads us to believe that he will come in and sign his tag. If the Steelers choose to pay him from this point on and not take the exemption, Bell will earn a little under $6M. He may potentially play 7 games plus any playoff games. If the catastrophic occurs, and he is injured badly enough that he jeopardizes his earning power moving forward, he did it all for less than $6M. Had he come in from week one, he would have received $8.5M more than that. If he would have signed a long-term deal it would have been even more. How much more is unknown as there are several accounts of what the numbers could have been, but it would certainly have been more than $6M. If he is afraid of that risk then coming in now is the worst way to insure yourself against that.

[Mr.wizard]

If Bell was so concerned about jeopardizing his career, he would have signed long-term either last off-season or this. He is instead concerned with earning the highest amount that he can. It's a trade-off - take guaranteed money now and your family is taken care of in case of injury or hold out and hope that you will earn even more money next off-season, but with the risk that something might happen and you might not make it there.

As it is now, Bell is in Pittsburgh, which leads us to believe that he will come in and sign his tag. If the Steelers choose to pay him from this point on and not take the exemption, Bell will earn a little under $6M. He may potentially play 7 games plus any playoff games. If the catastrophic occurs, and he is injured badly enough that he jeopardizes his earning power moving forward, he did it all for less than $6M. Had he come in from week one, he would have received $8.5M more than that. If he would have signed a long-term deal it would have been even more. How much more is unknown as there are several accounts of what the numbers could have been, but it would certainly have been more than $6M. If he is afraid of that risk then coming in now is the worst way to insure yourself against that.

Not really because if he had come back week 1 he would have been the workhorse back, now if he comes back he will only be sprinkled in maybe and it's doubtful once he signs that he will be ready to go right away. So he will get 6 million to come in and take a backup role for a handful of games. It really was the best course of action knowing that he had to sign at some point to be eligible for free agency.

[fordfixer]

When and if Bell shows up he will either fake a injury, be suspended for a failed piss test, or be fat and lazy. But we will still have Conner.

[SanAntonioSteelerFan]

When and if Bell shows up he will either fake a injury, be suspended for a failed piss test, or be fat and lazy. But we will still have Conner.

He's put himself in such a no-win situation (or his agent has done that for him), I would think any of those options would greatly lower his bargaining power for next year.

I hope he decides to play for us, in whatever way the coaches tell him to, and ball out when he does so prospective new teams have good recent film on him.

[Steelwolf]

He's put himself in such a no-win situation (or his agent has done that for him), I would think any of those options would greatly lower his bargaining power for next year.

I hope he decides to play for us, in whatever way the coaches tell him to, and ball out when he does so prospective new teams have good recent film on him.

Schefter tweeted bell will not show up...not really surprised

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. More on ESPN.com.

[Captain Lemming]

After seeing what happened to Earl Thomas and now Bryant, I can't really blame Bell for not wanting to step out there with out a long term deal in place.

True. I that is why it was foolish not to sign the 2017 offer.