Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell told NFL Network’s Good Morning Football on Wednesday he’s still in the process of determining whether he’ll need offseason surgery on his injured groin.
“I’m kind of in the process of seeing a couple of doctors, seeing if I have to get surgery or not,” Bell said. “I’m hoping for the best, but I understand it’s a tough game. If I don’t get surgery, I go into the rehab process, work hard, get back to how I was last year, or actually, better. I’m going to take it from there.”
Bell indicated that he’s seen two specialists for his groin and one says he needs surgery while the other says he doesn’t. Because of that he’ll seek a third opinion.
Bell, who had to leave the Steelers AFC Championship game late in the first quarter because of his groin injury, had apparently been managing it for a few weeks prior to that contest.
“People don’t understand I was kind of fighting that through the playoffs,” Bell said. “I really hurt it in the Miami game. I played through the whole Kansas City game with it. The beginning of the Patriots game, I felt it.”
It was reported last week that NFL is looking into the Steelers failure to list Bell’s groin problem on their injury report ahead of the team’s game against the Patriots. On Tuesday, Steelers president Art Rooney II indicated that he doesn’t think anything will come of that investigation after the team provides the league more information.
Bell, who is set to receive the franchise tag from the Steelers in the coming weeks, will ultimately likely sign a long-term contract extension later on during the offseason.
“Obviously, I want to play with the Steelers. I don’t want to change teams and things like that,” Bell said. “Hopefully we get all that settled, and hopefully they show some love because obviously I feel like I’m the best running back in the league.”
