The Pittsburgh Steelers held their first official practice of the 2018 season on Monday, and Le’Veon Bell was not present for the start of it. It’s unclear at what point this week the star running back plans to show up, and at least one of his teammates appears to have grown tired of the lengthy holdout.
A report from last week claimed Bell planned to report to the Steelers on Monday, but Bell shot it down on Twitter. When asked about the situation, One Pittsburgh player admitted to Aditi Kinkhabwala of NFL Network that it has become “a headache.”
Le’Veon Bell is definitely selfless on the field. When he shows up, he’ll surely be all in and everything will go back to “normal.” But one of his teammates did just tell me last week that the drama of where-is-he is “a headache.” #Steelers https://t.co/VBx3dxT1fK
— Aditi Kinkhabwala (@AKinkhabwala) September 3, 2018
This is the second consecutive offseason that Bell has skipped, and there are constantly questions about his whereabouts. No matter how much he is respected by his teammates, you can understand how that would get old when you’re trying to prepare for the season. Bell recently fired back at a former teammate who criticized him, but he has to know his holdout has become somewhat of a distraction.
As many have pointed out, Bell got just 13 touches in Week 1 last year after he missed the whole offseason program. He’ll probably be limited again this year when the Steelers open up their season against the Cleveland Browns.
