Mike Tomlin addresses Bell, Bryant, and Coates situations
It wouldn’t be the start of football season without some sort of controversy to report on. The Pittsburgh Steelers begin practices today as their training camp officially opened with players reporting by 4 p.m. on Thursday.
However, there are a handful of players who will not be available to the team when today’s first official practice begins at 3 p.m. One of those players is wide receiver Martavis Bryant, who was conditionally reinstated by the NFL back in April but has still not been officially cleared to participate in practice or games. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is working with the situation as best he can:
What we are going to continue to do is cooperate fully, as we have, and wait for them to instruct us what to do next. It is something we have to deal with and we will. And we will do it in an appropriate way.
I knew it was a possibility, because there were some conditions based on his reinstatement, and they have really been consistent in that regard. Martavis and we have all been working extremely hard to adhere to it.
It’s procedural.
As to when Bryant will be cleared is a mystery:
I am not going to speculate. That decision making from a timetable standpoint is outside my control. I will let the guys in New York do what they do.
As for Le’Veon Bell, the Steelers and the running back failed to come to an agreement on a long-term contract before the deadline earlier this month. Bell has yet to sign his tender, and as such, has yet to report to camp. Coach Tomlin appeared to give a neutral answer on the topic.
Obviously, I would like him to be here. He is not. But I am going to focus my energies on the guys that are. It’s an unfortunate circumstance. One that we will deal with. One that he will deal with. I have had good, clean communication with him. I will leave the nature of that conversation between us.
But rest assured that he will be ready to play football. When he gets here, I do not know. I will remain focused on the guys that are here and their overall development. When he gets here, he gets here.
Training Camp is an opportunity to get into “football shape” but the Steelers coach feels Bell will eventually be ready come time for the regular season.
He is in shape over the course of a 12-month calendar. Football conditioning is not an issue with him. But rust and overall readiness will be. That’s to be determined.
Coach Tomlin also had to address a few other situations on his first official day at camp, including an injury to Sammie Coates, a no-show at camp, and one of the receivers failing the physical conditioning test given to players on Thursday. Canaan Severin was carted off of the field during the test, while the wide receiver room took another hit with Sammie Coates’ injury:
Sammie Coates will be placed on the PUP List. He had a meniscal procedure a couple of weeks ago. He is recovering from that. He will start on the PUP List, as will Canaan Severin, another wide receiver, who didn’t pass his conditioning test.
As for the no-show, several reports are stating free agent safety Daimion Stafford did not report to camp. Stafford was signed by the Steelers on May 30th after starting six games for the Tennessee Titans last year.
He was placed on the Reserve/Did Not Report List as the Steelers signed former Penn State safety Malik Golden to take his roster spot.
