Steelers must deal with Bell’s absence
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin did not repeat his statement from a year ago that Le’Veon Bell’s preseason absence will have “consequences,” but Kevin Colbert admitted as much.
Bell’s absence, combined with the one-year franchise tag he will sign once he does report, affects him and the Steelers in different ways, the general manager acknowledged Friday.
The most obvious is Bell’s readiness to play if he waits until six days before the regular-season opener to sign and report.He did that in 2017 and got off to a slow start.
Colbert said it could happen again.
“He’s a Pro Bowler,’’ Colbert noted at first. “Could he have been a better Pro Bowler? Yes, I believe so, because I think anybody who misses training camp, be it through injury or not being here, they’re not going to be as good.
“Was he still a Pro Bowler? Yes, he was, but from the team standpoint, which is our main focus right now, to have everybody here is important. But he’s not here, so we can’t dwell on it and all we can do is try to get better with what we’ve got. When that changes, we’ll deal with that.”
A slow start by Bell — and perhaps consequently, the team (it began 3-2 last season and finished 13-3) — isn’t the only thing that might do harm after he and the Steelers could not agree on a multi-year contract.
Bell will play under the $14.55 million franchise tag, and all that money will count against the Steelers salary cap in 2018. In longterm deals, typically the first year counts much less against the cap because of the way the signing bonus is spread over the life of the contract, and the increase in annual salaries.
As a result, Colbert admitted Bell’s tag might impede them from signing someone else to a long-term deal this year. The Steelers have roughly $5.5 million in salary cap space left, according OverTheCap.com, but that counts only the top 51 salaries right now. Once the season begins, everything counts — 53 roster players, those on injured reserve and other inactive lists, and an 11-player practice squad.
The Steelers prefer to be $5 million under the cap to start the season to account for injuries, so there’s not much wiggle room there to sign someone else without restructuring contracts.
Starters entering the final year of their contracts who could be in line for new deals are Chris Boswell, Ramon Foster and Vince Williams, along with backups Jesse James and Landry Jones. Typically, the Steelers would extend their quarterback with two years left on his contract, which is Ben Roethlisberger’s situation.
“Once Bell didn’t sign and we know what he’s going to be in for this year as opposed to what he might have been in for under to a different structure, now we have to say, OK, this is what we have at this point,’’ Colbert said.
He does expect Bell to ultimately report in great shape, and that once here he will give it everything he has and not look to perhaps protect himself from injury.
“He’ll be in top physical condition. He won’t be in top football condition. When he gets on the field, I never worry about Bell’s competitiveness because he wants to prove, what he believes, that he’s the best. So I don’t worry about that at all. He’s going to put team over individual goals.”
In other topics Colbert touched on Friday in an interview with a group of reporters:
They might look at bringing in a veteran inside linebacker later if they don’t like what they see from Tyler Matakevich and Jon Bostic, who signed as an unrestricted free agent. “There are guys available and who knows? Maybe over training camp we won’t be happy, but maybe we will. Let’s look at these guys first.”
He said the same thing about signing a veteran offensive tackle after Bryce Harris, a veteran they signed, failed their run test and thus their physical at Saint Vincent College. They will first see how rookie Chuks Okorafor and 2018 practice-squadder Jake Rodgers do in the preseason.
There is no organizational rule or policy that prevents Roethlisberger from running the quarterback sneak, even though his most recent rushing attempt came in 2015.