We’re closing in on now or never territory for Le’Veon Bell in the 2018 NFL season.
Bell, who’s been absent from the Pittsburgh Steelers for the entirety of the campaign amid a contract holdout, has until Tuesday to report to the team facilities or else he’ll forfeit the season.
The talented running back tweeted Monday that he was leaving Miami, where he’s spent most of his holdout, and was spotted playing pickup basketball at an L.A. Fitness club in North Pittsburgh on Tuesday, according to ESPN. While there apparently was no meeting between Bell and the Steelers on Wednesday, the three-time Pro Bowl selection did shed some light on his situation with a pair of unorthodox tweets.
In case you don’t feel like tilting your head or flipping your screen upside down, Bell’s tweets read, “Just about everybody has an opinion on my life & worries about what I’m doing … don’t judge me off my decisions because maybe this isn’t what you’d do … but most people don’t take the time to just simply read between the lines … & that’s clearly on them …
“I’m not apologizing for what I believe is right for myself, family, and the rest of my peers, period … also if you’re really finding the time to figure out what I’m saying you’ve proved my point.”
It’s anyone’s guess as to what the future will hold for Bell. The 26-year-old is set to become a free agent at season’s end unless the Steelers place the franchise tag on him for the third time. That tag, however, would be worth more than $20 million, per ESPN, and it seems unlikely Pittsburgh would be willing to pay that steep of a price for a player it routinely hasn’t seen eye-to-eye with.
It feels as though a change of scenery is what’s best for Bell at this point, but an interested team clearly must be willing to open up its wallet pretty wide.
