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Steelers player on Le'Veon Bell's absence - 'Nobody cares'

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Are Le’Veon Bell’s teammates in Pittsburgh getting weary of his quixotic quest for a big-money contract extension?

Bell is the NFL’s highest-paid running back: He earned $12.1 million last year and is set to make $14.5 million this season when (or if) he signs his latest franchise tender.

That’s almost double the salary of the second-highest-paid back, the Falcons’ Devonta Freeman, who is slated to get $8.2 million.

But the Steelers star has made it clear he believes he deserves more money and more security — a long-term deal worth $17 million a year, according to the NFL Network’s Aditi Kinkhabwala — and he’s very frustrated with receiving the franchise tag again and again.

Bell has talked about holding out or even retiring if Pittsburgh fails to give him what he thinks he deserves.

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“I hope it doesn’t come to that, but I would definitely consider it,” he told reporters earlier this year.

“I’m not going to settle for anything,” the running back said. “I know what I do and what I bring to the table. I’m not going out here getting the ball 400 times if I’m not getting what I feel I’m valued at.”

To no one’s surprise, Bell is skipping the team’s minicamp this week — and it sounds like some of his teammates aren’t missing him.

“I think last year a lot of guys were like, ‘Oh, Le’Veon’s not here,'” Steelers wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey told ESPN. “Nobody cares. We’re out here and we have to get work done. … We’ll see him when we see him. Next man up.”

Do you think the Steelers should give Bell the big-money contract extension he wants?

Linebacker Bud Dupree echoed those sentiments, saying, “If he comes, he comes. If he don’t come, he don’t come. We’re still going to keep rolling and keep getting better. The team can’t stop.”

Guard David DeCastro is braced for a repeat of 2017, when Bell didn’t show up until September.

“I don’t know. You look at last year as a pattern, it’s probably not good,” DeCastro told ESPN. “It will probably be the exact same. I’d put money on it. But you never know. There’s always a chance.”

There’s no doubt that Bell is one of the best backs in the league. He’s coming off an All-Pro season where he finished third in the league in rushing with 1,291 yards and 10th in receiving with 85 catches.

But running backs aren’t valued the way they were in the past. For example, the Steelers’ main rival, the Baltimore Ravens, plucked Alex Collins off the scrap heap last September, and he ended up winning the starting job and rushing for 973 yards with a 4.6 average per carry — much better than Bell’s 4.0.

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Instead of showing up for camp, Bell, who was suspended in 2015 after a marijuana arrest, is hanging out with Pittsburgh rapper and cannabis connoisseur Wiz Khalifa. The running back has a budding rap career of his own, having put out a song called “Target” that takes aim at fans who question his salary demands.

Given all of that, it’s difficult to picture a conservative franchise like Pittsburgh giving Bell what he wants.

His teammates should get used to not having him around for another summer.

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Todd Windsor is a senior story editor at The Western Journal. He has worked as an editor or reporter in news and sports for more than 30 years.
Todd Windsor is a senior story editor at The Western Journal. He was born in Baltimore and grew up in Maryland. He graduated from the University of Miami (he dreams of wearing the turnover chain) and has worked as an editor and reporter in news and sports for more than 30 years. Todd started at The Miami News (defunct) and went on to work at The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., the St. Petersburg (now Tampa Bay) Times, The Baltimore Sun and Space News before joining Liftable Media in 2016. He and his beautiful wife have two amazing daughters and a very old Beagle.
Birthplace
Baltimore
Education
Bachelor of Science from the University of Miami
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Media, Sports




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