- The Washington Times - Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Le’Veon Bell’s holdout from the Pittsburgh Steelers doesn’t look like it will end anytime soon. A former Steeler great has some off-the-wall advice in mind for him.

James Harrison, a longtime Pittsburgh linebacker, said in an interview on FS1 that Bell should return to the team in November to meet an important deadline for his free agency, but then continue to avoid playing by faking injuries.

“For me, I’d give you everything at practice,” Harrison said. “You’d see — the cameras would see — that I’m fine, I’m healthy. But come Saturday, ’Something ain’t right. I can’t play on Sunday.’ Because if I go out here and I mess something up, I’m losing a lot of money.”

Bell is in a tricky situation as he is trying to get paid a much higher salary than NFL teams are usually willing to give running backs, a famously fragile position. Bell will become a free agent in 2019 — but only if he reports to the Steelers by Nov. 13, or else 2018 won’t count as an accrued season for Bell under the NFL collective bargaining agreement.

The Steelers slapped Bell with the franchise tag last offseason, but he refused to sign the $14.5 million tender.

• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.

Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

Please read our comment policy before commenting.

Click to Read More and View Comments

Click to Hide