Getty Pittsburgh Steelers RB Le'Veon Bell
It was right around a month ago that two of Le’Veon Bell’s Pittsburgh Steelers teammates opted to voice their opinion on the running back’s holdout. As you can probably guess, they didn’t exactly hurl support behind Bell. Specifically, it was two offensive linemen in Ramon Foster and Maurkice Pouncey who had a few words on the topic.
So when the news came that the 26-year-old would return to the team during the bye (Week 7), the attention shifted back to the duo. And as Joe Rutter of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review revealed, both Foster and Pouncey were among the players to speak on Bell’s expected return.
First up was Foster, who didn’t seem overly thrilled.
“We’ve got a lot of stuff in-house we have to deal with more than anything,” he said. “If he shows up, that’s awesome. If he comes later, that’s cool. Our job right now is to win these games that’s in front of us until he does.”
While Foster wasn’t over-the-moon happy about the news, Pouncey was ecstatic, as Rutter revealed.
“We love Le’Veon,” he said. “Sometimes, I think that gets misconstrued, how much we care about him. We all want the best for him. People take things the wrong way sometimes, and we’re totally fine with him.”
“We’ve done a lot of great things with Le’Veon,” Pouncey said. “Sometimes, you let things get in the way, but he’s been a heck of a player here, a great teammate. We’ll never forget that. I’m pretty sure when he comes back everybody will be fine with it.”
It sounds like Pouncey is willing to let bygones be bygones, but then again, he didn’t say anything quite as strong as Foster originally
What Bell’s Teammates Previously Said
The comments on Bell’s holdout came from more than just these two players. But since they’re the ones opening up holes for the back, the original statements drew the most attention. Foster’s comments took center stage, though, as Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette revealed.
More Ramon Foster on Bell: “He’s making 7 times what I make twice as much as Al (Villanueva) is making and we’re the guys who do it for him.”
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler detailed what Pouncey had to say, as he simply stated the holdout was “bigger than business.”
Steelers players coming out much stronger on Bell, taking his absence personally. “It’s bigger than business,” M. Pouncey said. Some players felt he played ‘peek-a-boo’ by not committing to absence earlier.
Both players seem open to welcoming Bell back to the team, but how things go when he actually returns will be a situation to monitor. Tensions may be a bit high right out of the gate, but as we know, winning games can fix many issues.
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