Steelers ready for Conner to carry load if Bell no-shows
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mike Tomlin doesn’t know when Le’Veon Bell is going to show up for work.
Maybe it’ll be in time for the Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro running back to be ready for Sunday’s season opener at Cleveland.
Or maybe Bell will skip a week to send one last message about his frustration over not being able to sign a long-term deal during the offseason.
Or maybe Bell will wait until early November to sign his one-year fran- chise tender , a move that would cost him millions in lost salary up front, a windfall Bell hopes to recoup when he hits free agency next spring. Tomlin insists he has too much going on getting ready to chase a third straight AFC North title to keep checking Bell’s locker for evidence of his arrival.
“When he gets here, that’s when we’ll start quantifying Le’Veon Bell-related things,” Tomlin said Tuesday.
Though Tomlin has been in contact with Bell during Bell’s lengthy sab- batical — the three-time Pro Bowler’s last appearance with the team was during a playoff loss to Jacksonville in January — Tomlin has no idea what to expect whenever Bell signs the contract that will make him both the highest-paid running back in the league and start the countdown to his departure in 2019.
So Tomlin declined to get into specifics about how long it might take for Bell to get ready to play after not practicing for eight months. Could be a week, as it was last year. Could be longer.
“Right now, (I’m) singularly focused on the guys focused that have been here,” Tomlin said.
Second-year running back James Conner chief among them. The former Pitt star made significant strides during training camp.