Le'Veon Bell not reporting to Steelers, sitting out season

Le'Veon Bell won't play in 2018.

The star running back declined to sign his one-year, $14.4-million US franchise tender with the Pittsburgh Steelers by Tuesday's deadline, making him ineligible to suit up for the AFC North-leading Steelers or anyone else this season.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin seemed resigned to Bell's decision shortly before the 4 p.m. ET deadline, saying simply "so be it" when asked about the possibility of Bell never returning to the team that drafted him in the second round of the 2013 draft and helped mould him into one of the league's top players.

"Even when we don't understand it, we're sensitive to it, so we're not shocked when things happen from a business standpoint, no," Tomlin said.

The Steelers, who have won five straight to sprint to the top of the division heading into a visit to Jacksonville on Sunday, will turn to second-year back James Conner and reserves Stevan Ridley and rookie Jaylen Samuels to help shoulder the load with Bell out of the picture.

Linchpin

All season Tomlin stressed he was focused on the players in the locker room and not the ones outside it and hardly seems bothered by Pittsburgh's quest for a post-season berth without the talented 26-year-old Bell.

"That train has left the station," Tomlin said. "We're comfortable with how we function, the people at our disposal, the division of labour and our ability to ready ourselves for the challenges."

The makeover relied heavily on Bell, whose patient running style became his trademark while helping Pittsburgh to four straight playoff berths.

Bell is one of only three players to be franchise tagged in consecutive seasons. The first two, linebacker Karlos Dansby and quarterback Kirk Cousins, played all 16 games during their second season under the tag then went and cashed in elsewhere in free agency.

As his star rose, Bell insisted he wasn't merely a running back, pointing to his success as a receiver — he finished 10th in the league with 85 catches in 2017 — as proof that he should be paid far above his peers.

Teammates frustrated

When Bell and the Steelers failed to reach an agreement on a new deal last summer, he said "both sides worked extremely hard" in an attempt to get something done. When it didn't happen, he skipped training camp again, just as he did in 2017. His teammates stressed it was no big deal, confident Bell would show up in time for the regular-season opener.

Only he didn't. And when preparations for Pittsburgh's Week 1 trip to Cleveland began without Bell, several of his teammates, particularly the offensive line, vented their frustrations publicly.

The anger eased as the weeks passed and Conner thrived in Bell's absence while Bell remained in Florida, where encounters captured on social media found him riding a Jet Ski or hitting the club. He returned to Pittsburgh last week and even played some pickup basketball at a fitness centre.

It's as close to breaking a sweat with the Steelers as Bell will get. Though the team could use the franchise or transition tag on Bell next spring, it's more likely he'll just walk away.

Now the player who would frequently place his hand on the back of an offensive lineman while waiting for a hole to open — much as a child sticking close to a parent in a crowded store — finds himself all alone in uncharted territory.