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RB Le'Veon Bell, FA - 9.6.21 Workout For Baltimore (3 Viewers)

Steelers OC Todd Haley expressed optimism Wednesday regarding Le'Veon Bell's (MCL, PCL) recovery.
Haley predicted Bell would be "as good as new" by Week 1, basing that forecast on "just knowing him and what we’ve seen of him in the past." Haley was a bit more evasive when asked if the Steelers might lessen Bell's workload after DeAngelo Williams' monster 2015 season. "It will be a lot easier to give Le’Veon some rest when he needs it, although he never wants to come off (the field)," Haley said. "We’ve seen D-Will for a full year in our offense and doing the things the way we do them, so I think it’s an exciting thing to look forward to."

 
 
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Jun 8 - 10:14 PM
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ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reports Le'Veon Bell (MCL, PCL) wants to able to "cut and run freely" before reporting to camp.
Bell wants to be a full participant from the first whistle, but the Steelers are expected to exercise early caution. Per Fowler, Bell is unlikely to play before Week 3 of the preseason. That's certainly the wise approach. Barring a setback, Bell will be ready to rock as a top-three RB1 for Week 1.

 
 
Source: ESPN.com 
Jun 26 - 3:49 PM
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ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler expects Le’Veon Bell to command at least $8 million annually.
Bell wants Adrian Peterson money ($14M annually). He has a case to be the NFL's highest paid running back, but Peterson’s deal is outdated. Bell should land more guarantees than Peterson if he rebounds this season.

 
 
Source: ESPN 
Jul 9 - 5:25 PM
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I never draft RBs early any more.  The position is just too injury prone.  One bad plant of the leg and the season goes up in smoke.

 
Citing "information gathered," Profootballtalk.com reports there's a "strong sense" in league circles that Le'Veon Bell is unlikely to win the appeal of his four-game suspension.
The popular theory as to Bell's defense is that he changed his cellphone number and therefore was not contacted by the NFL prior to a drug test. Bell thus missed the test and was hit with a four-game ban. That defense isn't going to fly because Bell needed to inform the NFL of the cellphone change, assuming there ever was one. There also have been reports Bell missed multiple drug tests, not just one. Fantasy owners should approach Bell as if he won't be available until Week 5. DeAngelo Williams should be Pittsburgh's workhorse back in Weeks 1-4.

 
 
Source: Profootballtalk on NBC Sports
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Suspended RB Le'Veon Bell has had "no problem" making open-field cuts in his recovery from last year's MCL and PCL tears.
Bell's ligament tears don't seem to be of much concern any longer. Bell was cleared for the first day of training camp and ESPN Steelers reporter Jeremy Fowler says Le'Veon's "movement" has been "fluid" in drills. The biggest concern for Bell, of course, is his four-game suspension brought on by repeated violations of the NFL's substance abuse policy. His appeal is in mid-August.

 
 
Source: ESPN.com 
Aug 1 - 5:19 PM
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If the suspension holds but he continues to have no setbacks health-wise, where does he become a possibility in redrafts? I have 1.9 in a 10 team non-PPR, would think it about it there. All the RBs have potential question marks but I think I'd be more comfortable with Bell than I would Charles, Elliott, David Johnson, etc.

 
 


According to ESPN's Sal Paolantonio, the Steelers are "pretty confident" suspended RB Le'Veon Bell will play in Week 1.
"They are pretty confident that they will have him Week 1, so that’s what the Steelers are telling us," said Sal Pal. A previous report from PFT's Mike Florio indicated Bell was unlikely to win his appeal, which is expected to take place on August 18. If Bell is indeed reinstated for the season opener, he would vault back into the first round of fantasy drafts. Stay tuned.

 
 
Source: Pittsburgh 24/7 Sports 
Aug 7 - 10:08 PM




 
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I heard a local reporter saying that he got the impression from some players, not the Steelers organization, that Bell was going to play week 1.   If that is what Sal Paolantonio is referring to then I think we should temper our optimism considering the players are probably basing their expectations on what Bell is telling them.

It is great that Bell is so sure he is going to win the appeal but that doesn't happen very often.   I bet the 4 games sticks.

 
Godsbrother said:
I really doubt this is going to be anything less than 4 games but hope I am wrong.  In any case it would be nice to know soon.
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If what he said is actually true, about him giving them his new number and them not using it, then it would be ridiculous to keep him suspended for 4 games.  It's already ridiculous that they don't have 2 forms of contact for drug tests (phone and email).

Knowing the NFL, it will be 100% their fault, and they'll increase the suspension to 6 games while laughing and giving the NFLPA the middle finger.

 
Cjw_55106 said:
Has anyone said why they think it will be overturned? 
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There have been reports that Bell got a new cell phone and properly notified NFL officials but they were still using the old number to try to contact him. There was also a rumor that the league leaked the news of the missed tests and/or suspension before notifying the player which would be a violation of the CBA.

I have no idea if either of these stories is accurate or the basis for why some people feel the suspension may be reduced or lifted entirely.  

If history is any indication then Bell doesn't have much hope of winning the appeal.

 
Godsbrother said:
There have been reports that Bell got a new cell phone and properly notified NFL officials but they were still using the old number to try to contact him. There was also a rumor that the league leaked the news of the missed tests and/or suspension before notifying the player which would be a violation of the CBA.

I have no idea if either of these stories is accurate or the basis for why some people feel the suspension may be reduced or lifted entirely.  

If history is any indication then Bell doesn't have much hope of winning the appeal.
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I heard the same.  Also, a Pittsburgh journalist discussed it a few weeks back.  I'll post the link if I can find it. 

1.  The journalist said, like drug tests with your employer, failed or missed tests are to be disclosed jointly to only the NFL and the Organization (Steelers).  The policy states something along the lines of   ...Anyone involved in the drug testing (NFL, Teams & Owners), cannot reveal results of tests until it is officially announced by the Commissioner.  In this case, news broke before The Steelers or Bell were notified.

2.  Bell's is still not on the NFL's suspended list.

 
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Teef said:
I heard the same.  Also, a Pittsburgh journalist discussed it a few weeks back.  I'll post the link if I can find it. 

1.  The journalist said, like drug tests with your employer, failed or missed tests are to be disclosed jointly to only the NFL and the Organization (Steelers).  The policy states something along the lines of   ...Anyone involved in the drug testing (NFL & Owners), cannot reveal results of tests until it is officially announced by the Commissioner.  In this case, news broke before The Steelers or Bell were notified.  Steelers aren't happy about it.  (Could the test administrator have leaked it to Mark Madden?),  Bell isn't happy because he's taking negative press in his contract year. 

2.  Bell's is still not on the NFL's suspended list.
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Madden said on his radio program that his source was someone from within or with close ties to the Steelers organization.  

 
Godsbrother said:
Madden said on his radio program that his source was someone from within or with close ties to the Steelers organization.  
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Makes sense.  Seems like there were definitely missed tests, but due diligence had not been performed.  The other angle you mentioned is interesting too.  If he changed his phone, re-registered a new number and can prove it, seems like he'd have a case there as well. 

 @ClaytonESPN  On the Bell story, missing a test is the same as failing a test, but the tester has to show he made good effort to contact.
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Rotoworld states that he doesn't know when his appeal will be. And that the Steelers are confident that he'll be on the field week 1. But that despite their confidence, he'll probably be on the sideline.

You'd think that the Steelers would know more about the situation than Rotoworld, but idk.

Also, I heard it was going to be the 18th, but now I can't re-find that.

 
I want him on the field as much as any other owner but why in the world would the Steeler organization ever come out and say anything that might hurt his chances of getting his suspension overturned? They aren't coming out and saying "we don't think he has a shot in hell of getting the suspension overturned" ever.

 
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FGITLOTR said:
I thought the appeal decision was coming today? 
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That was original speculation, but apparently the NFL has yet to get back to Bell about scheduling his appeal. The NFL has bigger fish to fry. They're busy investigating 4 players for drug use when 0 evidence exists. That's hard work!

 
Hmm..    Does this change his outlook much, if at all?  

I have 1.01 in a PPR    ...still can't take him over Antonio Brown

 
What I'm curious is as to whether or not this changes his status in the drug protocol... is he still in stage 2?

 
JFS171 said:
What I'm curious is as to whether or not this changes his status in the drug protocol... is he still in stage 2?
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As part of a settlement between the two parties, Bell will remain in his current stage of the substance-abuse program, Garafolo added. Staying in the same stage of the program means Bell's next suspension would also be four games, not 10.
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http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000687567/article/leveon-bells-suspension-reduced-to-three-games

 
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