Minicamp has just wrapped up today, leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers’ well of news pretty dry for the next six weeks. But Chris Bradford of the Beaver County Times left us one pretty juicy nugget to go out on.
Le’Veon Bell said he is somewhere between the 210-215 pound range, according to a water-logged Bradford who sent out this tweet.
Since entering the league, Bell has been on a quest to cut weight. At Michigan State, he played close to the 250 pound range, dropped to 230 for the Combine, but shot back up to 244 when he was drafted. Mike Tomlin made it clear that he needed to lose weight and he dropped throughout his rookie year. He cut down to roughly 225 pounds – his current listed weight – and maintained it into his second year, looking noticeably faster.
Now, he’s a six-packed 212 pounds, give or take a couple. Kudos to him for being able to cut down despite spending so much time recovering from his surgery, a time when players can balloon up. He returned to Pittsburgh for their mandatory minicamp but spent much of OTAs rehabbing in the sweltering Miami weather.
Perhaps Bell will look even a little springier in 2017 at his lighter weight. If there is any complaint about his game, and clearly, this is nit-picking, it’s a slight lack of breakaway speed in the open field.
He’s been limited at minicamp but doesn’t sound in any danger of missing the regular season. He averaged a career high 4.9 yards per carry before tearing his MCL in November.
This story also serves as a reminder that the heights and weights on teams’ websites are not to be trusted. They are usually never updated and wildly off, as we’ve shown before, by as much as 30 pounds.
