Its been two and a half months since Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell was suspended for the first three games of the 2015 season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy last August and while he reportedly has filed an appeal, it has still yet to be heard.
According to a Wednesday report by Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Bell said that not only has his appeal not yet been heard, he doesn’t even know when the hearing will take place.
#Steelers RB Le'Veon Bell, who is appealing his 3-game NFL suspension, said the appeal has not yet been heard, doesn't know when it will be
— Ed Bouchette (@EdBouchette) June 17, 2015
In case you missed it, I asked former sports agent Joel Corry a few weeks ago about Bell’s situation and he told me that appeal hearings normally take place within 30 days of them being filed. He did, however, say that parties can agree to a different timeframe and that a longer period is most likely to happen during the offseason.
It could be that Bell’s lawyers are wanting his appeal to be delayed as long as possible in order for the Steelers running back to have a longer amount of time to show that he has learned from his mistake and not a risk to be suspended again in the future.
When Bell’s appeal is finally heard, which is bound to happen before the preseason gets underway, I’m still willing to bet that it winds up getting reduced by one game as long as the former second-round draft pick keeps his nose and lungs clean.
