Kevin Colbert: Le'Veon Bell Hurting Himself With Holdout

[RealGM Wiretap]

The Pittsburgh Steelers, not surprisingly, aren't happy that Le'Veon Bell is skipping training camp.

The Steelers can't fine Bell because he hasn't signed his franchise tender.

Bell is set to make $12.1 million under the terms of the franchise tag and the deadline to sign a multi-year deal passed last month.

"My feeling is there's nothing to be gained by a holdout," Kevin Colbert told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "The situation won't change, it can't really change from our part on a long-term deal. So it hurts him not to be here. It hurts him because he's not working with his teammates, he's not getting the conditioning work that he's going to need to have a great 2017 season. And he's not working with his teammates to get acclimated to the offense — every year it's different."

Via Josh Alper/Pro Football Talk

[IWishIWasHarden]

Cut him.

[cheese318]

Kevin if you really cared about all those facts you could have given Leveon a contract extension. Out of all positions played RB would be one that wouldn't step on the field without pen to paper. On avg RB last max 2-3 years in league

[xJumpManx]

guess you should pay him then.

[Barcs]

Bell starts almost every year on the suspended list, and I'm pretty sure his next one could be a long one. You can't give a guy like that big money until he proves he can knock off the BS. Missing training camp, I'm not going to be surprised if he injures himself and only hurts himself further due to lack of conditioning.

Colbert is right. He is franchise tagged and the deadline passed, so he has nothing to gain. They can't just whip up a deal out of the blue. They have to wait until next year. Bell is just being stubborn and using this as an excuse to his camp. Yeah it's annoying they couldn't work out a deal, but he can only blame himself and his off field issues for that. If he didn't start 2 years in a row on the suspended list he'd probably already have a nice deal in place.