Tomlin remains true on summer commitment regarding Bell
PITTSBURGH — No Le’Veon Bell again, but Mike Tomlin said he’ll remain true to his summer commitment regarding his approach to Bell.
To get credit for an accrued season, Bell must play six games at full pay, and it appears Tomlin will consider playing Bell whenever he reports, even if it’s that late in the season.
“When he gets here, the level of conditioning and overall readiness, those are equations we’ll weigh,” Tomlin said. “Until that time, this is where our focus is. So nothing has changed from my perspective, our perspective, based on what’s transpired in the last number of days. Zero.”
Bell’s agent, Adisa Bakari, intimated in an interview with Sirius Radio, that he wants to hear the Steelers’ plan for Bell’s workload. Tomlin brushed it off.
“I do not communicate with agents regarding how I utilize players,” he said. “I communicate with players regarding how I utilize players.”
He did not answer whether he’s spoken with Bell lately.
SUPER HOLDOUTS
A day after criticizing Bell for not reporting, Ramon Foster said teammates were trying to recall the last team to win a Super Bowl with a key player holding out.
“Can’t,” said Foster. “We were discussing it earlier and couldn’t come up with any holdouts or anything like that.”
Foster was only 19 days old when the 1985 Chicago Bears stormed to a title without holdouts Al Harris and Todd Bell.
Harris was an outside linebacker who played the 1984 season in front of rookie first-round pick Wilber Marshall, and Harris only wanted to be paid as well as his backup. The Bears refused and played Marshall, and Harris held out and missed the Super Bowl.
Bell was their Pro Bowl strong safety in 1984 and wanted a raise from $77,000 to $600,000. The Bears’ final offer was $400,000, so Bell went back to Columbus, Ohio, to finish his degree. He was replaced by rookie Dave Duerson, who was named to the Pro Bowl and won a ring.
Bell died 20 years later, and his widow, Daphe, told ESPN at the time, “He said to me, ‘What if I did come back? Then I would become someone I wasn’t. I could not compromise my principles because if I don’t stand for something, it will hurt the next player.'”
Bell, 27 at the time, stayed in Columbus as a matter of principle.
Sound familiar?
CONNER A SUPER REPLACEMENT?
Entering his second season, James Conner has the pedigree to do what the aforementioned Duerson did in replacing the Bears’ Bell.
In his last full and healthy season, Conner rushed for 1,765 yards and 26 touchdowns at a 5.9-per-carry clip as a sophomore at Pitt. A knee injury and cancer diagnosis knocked him out of his junior season, and he struggled through a 1,092-yard senior season before the Steelers drafted him late in the third round last year.
As a rookie, Conner played sparingly behind Bell, but appears to have returned to his early collegiate form in leading the Steelers in preseason rushing with 100 yards at a 5.3 clip.
Will Conner shock the NFL this season? Or at least in the opener at Cleveland?
“That’s my boy,” said JuJu Smith-Schuster, “so I know he’s going to go out there and play his heart out, play his best. I wouldn’t be surprised.”
Will the elevation of Conner serve to unify the offense? The line in particular?
“We’ve already been unified,” said Foster. “That’s why we go so hard. That’s why we’re so passionate about it, because we’ve gone from one of those O-lines that, ‘Aw, they suck. Those guys can’t do anything. They’re going to make Ben retire,’ to now where Ben is saying he’ll probably play five more years because of us. That’s not to toot our own horn, that’s just to say it’s bigger than just the situation. There’s a lot of pride in this.”
EDMUNDS COULD START
First-round draft pick Terrell Edmunds called his first-team reps this week “just rotating all the guys.” But defensive coordinator Keith Butler left the door open for Edmunds to start by deferring the question to Tomlin.
Tomlin didn’t say, while veteran cornerback Joe Haden said, “It isn’t clear to everybody” whether Edmunds will start as the strong safety in either the base alignment or in the 3-safety/3-CB “quarter” package.
“I think it’s been more about making sure Morgan (Burnett) is healthy,” Haden said of the practice rotation. “But I think with both of them, either way, we’re feeling comfortable.”
INJURY REPORT
Tight end Vance McDonald (foot) was limited again Thursday, lessening his chance of playing in the opener.
QUOTABLE
Butler on who has the advantage due to familiarity, him or former Steelers and current Browns offensive coordinator Todd Haley:
“Little bit of both,” Butler said. “We were competitive at training camp. You’re always that way with each other. I mean, that’s what you get in the game for. You want to compete. I’m sure he’s got some stuff for us, as we do for him.”