Le’Veon Bell says he was late to walk-through for personal reasons, team knew

Le’Veon Bell acknowledges that he was not present for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ entire Saturday walk-through before their playoff loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, but that does not mean the star running back went AWOL and showed up whenever he pleased.

While speaking with reporters from the Pro Bowl on Wednesday, Bell was asked about the reports of him missing most of the walk-through. He said he was dealing with a personal matter and the team knew about it ahead of time. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler also confirmed with sources that Bell was “mildly late.”

Bell also addressed report he blew off Saturday walkthrough – Bell said he had a personal matter about which the Steelers knew. “It is what it is,” he said. Multiple sources classified Bell as mildly late for the 30-minute session and not a team distraction.

— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) January 24, 2018

The original report from Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette claimed Bell ignored Tomlin’s requirement that players be in the locker room two hours prior to kickoff in addition to missing most of the walk-through.

While there has been a lot of finger-pointing going on since the Steelers were stunned by the Jags, Bell indicated on Wednesday that he and the team are making progress on a new contract. Even if he did violate team rules toward the end of the season, it doesn’t appear there is any lingering tension.