Le’Veon Bell is staying away from his second consecutive
training camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and not having a star player for an
entire offseason is enough to annoy even the most understanding coach. Judging
by the comments he made Monday, it seems like Mike Tomlin could be losing his
patience.
In an interview with Evan Washburn of CBS Sports, Tomlin
said he is hopeful Bell will decide to show up earlier this offseason than he
did in 2017. He also said he he’d like to see the star running back in even
better condition than he was a year ago.
Mike Tomlin on
Le'Veon Bell: "I'm hopeful that he'll get to us sooner. I'm hopeful that
he'll be in better condition even than he was a year ago
For what it’s worth, Bell racked up nearly 2,000 yards from
scrimmage and scored 11 touchdowns last season. His conditioning appeared to be
just fine, but Tomlin is making the point that the team has no control over how
prepared Bell will be as long as he refuses to show up for work.
There were some questions about Bell’s level of commitment during the postseason last
year, and it would be hard to blame Tomlin for being frustrated with the
situation. The Steelers share some of the blame for not being able to work out
a long-term deal with Bell, but ultimately he is choosing to stay away from the
team. Other players in his position — like Kirk Cousins a year ago — did not
take the same path.
No comments:
Post a Comment