Why hasn’t Le’Veon Bell rejoined the Steelers in time for the regular season?

Le’Veon Bell is still holding out, but one report says the end of his absence is near.

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2018 season began without Le’Veon Bell, but he may be rejoining the team before the end of October.

According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Bell plans to rejoin the Steelers during the team’s Week 7 bye and play the last 10 games of the season in Pittsburgh. However, those plans might be put on hold — Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said that the Steelers aren’t expecting Bell to report during the bye.

Bell’s prolonged absence is due to a contract dispute with the Steelers that began well over a year ago, but has reached a boiling point and will almost definitely end with the running back on a different roster in 2019.

The battle between the Steelers and Bell has even threatened to split the locker room with some players on the team calling out his “tiresome antics” and calling his holdout “stupid” and selfish. It caused other players on the team, like star receiver Antonio Brown, to jump to Bell’s defense.

After Bell missed the first two weeks of the regular season, the Steelers have now stripped his name from the roster and depth chart.

What does Le’Veon Bell want?

The 26-year-old running back has been one of the most dangerous offensive weapons in the NFL since he entered the league in 2013, but still hasn’t had the opportunity to negotiate his worth on the open market. In each of the last two offseasons, the Steelers have used the franchise tag to keep Bell from having a chance to hunt for big money.

Bell isn’t hurting for money with a one-year, $14.5 million franchise tender from the Steelers, but the team’s last chance offer in the summer for a long-term deal with the running back included just $10 million guaranteed.

Now he has no choice but to show up on the one-year, $14.5 million deal or face weekly fines.

Why won’t he show up?

With Bell almost guaranteed to leave in free agency, the Steelers have no reason not to squeeze every drop of value out of the star. He led the league in touches in 2017, and Pittsburgh can now crank that total up even further.

If Bell hopes to be as valuable as possible in March, it makes sense for the running back to worry about his snap count and leave as much tread as possible for teams to invest in.

So there’s logic behind Bell sitting out some games in 2018 to better set himself up in 2019.

How long will he sit out?

If Fowler’s report is true and Bell shows up in time to play in Week 8, it’ll be a welcomed addition for the Steelers, but the absence will still be costly.

By not signing his franchise tender by Week 1, he forfeited $855,000 and he’ll continue to cut into that total the longer he sits. The longest he could do is sit out until Week 10, because if he waits any longer the 2018 season wouldn’t count and he’d be stuck under contract with the Steelers in 2019 too.

Either way, the Steelers didn’t expect him back any time soon from the start:

When his agent suggested that his holdout could be lengthy, he also said that Bell intends for 2018 to be the best statistical season of his career. So sitting out more half the year always seemed unlikely.

When the Steelers began their Week 2 meetings, Bell (who has been removed from the depth chart) was still absent:

Until he shows up the Steelers are relying on 2017 third-round pick James Conner to handle the load. And in Week 1, Conner looked up to the task. While Pittsburgh opened the season with a 21-21 tie against the Browns, Conner had 36 touches for 192 all-purpose yards with two touchdowns. In subsequent games, he struggled some.

Bell watched from home and sent a cryptic tweet minutes after the game ended:

Could he be traded?

Reports early in the season and in training camp said the Steelers weren’t considering moving the running back. On the day of the team’s regular season opener, ESPN’s Adam Schefter said the Steelers had “no interest in dealing” Bell:

But after an 0-1-1 start to the year with plenty of drama that was exacerbated by Bell’s absence, that tune changed:

The difficulty, though, is that getting any value for Bell that tops the eventual compensatory pick the Steelers would get if the running back leaves in free agency.