No-show, no-go: Bell won’t play this season
Le’Veon Bell’s patience on the football field sets him apart.
In a game built on chaos, the star running back rarely hurries or makes hasty decisions.
His ability to put his hand on the back of an offensive lineman while waiting for the hole to open — much like a child sticking close to a parent in a crowded store — helps him make the remarkably difficult at times look remarkably easy.
His career at a crossroads partly of his own making, Bell will have to rely on that patience now more than ever after the two-time AllPro declined to sign his one-year, $14.4 million franchise tender with the Steelers by Tuesday’s deadline, making him ineligible to play for the AFC North leaders or anyone else this season.
The unprecedented move sets Bell up for the potentially big-time payday he has long been searching when he becomes a free agent in the spring, provided there’s a team willing to splurge on one of the league’s more talented if mercurial players.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin seemed resigned to Bell’s decision shortly before the deadline, saying simply “so be it” when asked about the possibility of Bell not returning to the team that selected him in the second round of the 2013 draft and helped mold him into one of the league’s most dynamic threats.
“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 (6-2-1), who have won five straight to sprint to the top of the division, 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.
Conner, third in the NFL with 771 yards rushing, remained in the concussion protocol Tuesday after leaving last Thursday’s blowout win against the Panthers but could practice as early as Wednesday. The league moved the Rams’ Monday night showdown with the Chiefs from Mexico City to Los Angeles due to the poor condition of the field at Azteca Stadium.
The league announced the extraordinary decision Tuesday, six days before one of the most-anticipated regular-season games of the year.
In a news release, the league says it determined that the recently re-sodded field at Mexico City’s historic stadium “does not meet NFL standards for playability and consistency, and will not meet those standards by next Monday.”
Recent rains and several big events at Azteca combined to damage the field.
The Rams (9-1) will host the Chiefs (9-1) at the Coliseum instead.
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