Steelers RB Le'Veon Bell remains absent, gives up USD 853,000

Le'Veon Bell gave up $853,000 by not reporting to the Pittsburgh Steelers before Saturday's 4 p.m. ET deadline as his contract holdout continues.

Bell did not sign his one-year, $14.54 million franchise tender after the Steelers retained him in March using the franchise tag. The two sides failed to reach an agreement despite negotiating toward a long-term contract in July. Based on the value of the franchise tender, Bell would earn $853K for every game this season.

Teammates chided Bell for staying away this week.

"What do you do?" left guard Ramon Foster said. "Here's a guy who doesn't give a damn, so I guess we'll treat it as such. I just hate it came to this.

"...He's making seven times what I make, twice as much as (left tackle) Al (Villanueva) is making and we're the guys who do it for him."

Another offensive lineman, center Maurkice Pouncey, said he was surprised not to see Bell this week.

"If you don't want to be here, it is what it is. Hold out 10 weeks," Pouncey said. "I just felt confident that he was gonna come. But now that he didn't, obviously it's Le'Veon over the Steelers, and we're the Steelers and we're going to play as the Steelers. ... Now when it's game time and you that you have $14 million looming out there, and you're still not here and your team really wants you here? At this point, we got (James) Conner."

Without the All-Pro at halfback, the Steelers are turning to Conner as the starter. Conner, a second-year back from Pitt, was the highest-graded running back in preseason, according to Pro Football Focus.

Conner rushed for 100 yards on 19 carries to go with 64 receiving yards. He played in 14 games last season, gaining 144 yards on 32 carries for an average of 4.5 yards per carrying.