Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell won’t have the appeal of his four-game suspension heard for a few more weeks, however, if you believe a Friday night report Friday by Sal Paolantonio of ESPN, there appears to be some optimism that he’ll be able to play in the regular season opener against the Washington Redskins.
“They are pretty confident that they will have him Week 1, so that’s what the Steelers are telling us,” said Paolantonio immediately after interviewing Bell during Friday night’s training camp practice at Latrobe Memorial Stadium.
Ok, don’t shoot the messenger here as these are Paolantonio’s exact words. He didn’t say who he got that information from and quite honestly, it’s hard to believe that anyone in the organization would even comment on Bell’s upcoming appeal and possible outcome of it. Perhaps a few players expressed that optimism to Paolantonio. Who knows?
Paolantonio said that Bell requested he not ask him any questions about his pending appeal and the reporter obliged.
We’ll have to wait and see how this ultimately plays out and as a previous report stated, the Steelers should know the outcome of Bell’s appeal by August 18. The running back reportedly missed ‘multiple” drug tests and that resulted in him being suspended by the league this past March. Other reports indicate Bell said he missed those tests due to him changing his phone number. Members of the Steelers organization have refused to comment on Bell’s upcoming appeal during recent interviews.
