The Steelers are the only raiders having fun this season.
NFL players get lots and lots of gear over the course of a season. Gloves, cleats, practice jerseys, hoodies, and more all accumulate as the weeks wear on. Most gets thrown into an athlete’s rotation, worn for a bit and then replaced with newer, better items.
But if a player never shows up, that gear builds up into piles. And if he sits out the entire season, like Le’Veon Bell is doing in Pittsburgh, that pile of equipment and clothing becomes fair game.
Steelers players went into Le’Veon Bell’s locker, removing his nameplate and rummaging through items. Bud Dupree says thanks for the Jordan brand cleats. pic.twitter.com/gQaAu9hUPd
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) November 14, 2018
The Steelers cleaned out Bell’s locker Wednesday, one day after his final deadline to report to practice before being disqualified from the season came and went without an appearance from the veteran tailback. That meant anything left behind was up for grabs. For linebacker Bud Dupree, that meant some new cleats.
“I appreciate the cleats my guy, you know what I’m saying,” Dupree told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. “I hope for you the best, but I’m taking all of this on right now.”
It wasn’t just cleats that were going fast, although those were a popular item and a nice bonus for the team’s hard working practice squad players. Some of Bell’s leftover personal items got tossed into the mix as well.
Update: the multiple large boxes, each with dozens of pairs of cleats in them, have been removed.
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) November 14, 2018
“You need shoes?” a player said to a reporter.
The locker of practice-squad player now has two whole shelves of shoes with “26” sewed on the back.
But while the team may have been frustrated by Bell’s failure to report, Fowler reported the raid on his old locker seemed “more playful than malicious.”
Update: It looks like most of Bell’s stuff is getting sent to him. No word on Dupree’s new cleats, however.
Multiple Steelers say Le’Veon Bell’s items were packed up, placed in the back and likely to be shipped to Bell. They stressed nothing malicious, everyone likes Bell. But this was closure. "Now, everybody can really get past it," CB Mike Hilton said.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) November 15, 2018
It’s just the next step in the Steelers’ journey beyond Bell
Bell refused to play under the franchise tag this fall, forfeiting $14.54 million in salary in order to stay healthy in his quest for a long term deal with major guaranteed money in 2019. While that’s kept the former All-Pro out of Pittsburgh’s lineup, the emergence of second-year tailback James Conner has eased the pain of losing Bell. Conner currently ranks second in the NFL with 771 rushing yards and also has 39 receptions through nine games.
That’s made the Steelers eager to put Bell’s holdout in their rear view.
Ben Roethlisberger discusses the Jaguars' defense, and the depth at running back behind James Conner. pic.twitter.com/vBCyYWeUZv
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) November 14, 2018
“You know what the thing about it he is not here, he’s not going to be here, so we don’t talk about it,” quarterback Ben Roethlisberger told the media Wednesday afternoon. “I texted him yesterday before the deadline saying I hope he is going to show up, and if he decided not to then I wish him the best. He was a great teammate here, a great football player. To each his own on what they want to walk away from.”
Pittsburgh finally got some closure in the Bell situation when he failed to report before the Nov. 13 deadline. Divvying up the former All-Pro’s stuff falls somewhere near the “acceptance” stage of the Kubler-Ross model.
The question now is whether or not any of the team’s linemen were able to fit into any of Bell’s old gear, or if the Steelers’ larger gentlemen were left in the lurch one final time by their former teammate.