Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Martavis Bryant created quite a stir Monday at Saint Vincent College after he was seen working on his own during the team’s daily practice. His appearance, by the way, came just a few hours after he told Aditi Kinkhabwala of the NFL Network that he is “close” to be allowed to return.
After Monday’s practice was over, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and general manager Kevin Colbert were both spotted talking to Bryant on the field, however, the former said during his daily press conference that there are no new developments when it comes to the wide receiver’s situation.
Earlier Monday, Colbert was a guest on 105.9 The X and he was asked by Mark Madden to give an update on Bryant and to recap why he’s yet to be fully reinstated by the NFL.
“Once you get into the program as deep as Martavis unfortunately did, it becomes a league issue and we can never comment on the substance abuse program even if we knew the ins and outs of where he is,” Colbert said. “But once they get into that stage, there’s very little communication other than to say he’s not fully reinstated. He can do training and conditioning, but no practice and obviously no playing. So, I’m sure it’s just a matter of tying up some loose ends and getting in compliance with what they want, but that’s solely between he and his agent and the union and they will communicate to us when they feel he’s ready to go.”
So, does Colbert still expect Bryant to be fully reinstated by the start of the regular season?
“We’re hopeful of that,” Colbert said. “I dont know because it’s unprecedented for us as well I can’t recall any cases around the league that opened up like this. So, we’ll just have to wait and see, but were hopeful of that for sure.”
The fact that Bryant is visibly working on the side right now during practices could indeed be a sign that he’s close to being reinstated. The Steelers are off on Tuesday so we’ll have to see if there are any new developments on Wednesday. At worst, it sounds like the Steelers will have him availble to them by the start of the regular season.
