Controversial Ex-Steeler Claps Back at Being Called a ‘Cancer,’ Relationship with Le’Veon Bell

LeGarrette Blount’s brief stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers is largely forgettable (he only played in 11 games) but still wrought with drama.

Brought to Pittsburgh in 2014 as a veteran mentor to Le’Veon Bell, Blount was quickly fazed out by the second-year running back.

Blount had no hard feelings towards Bell, quite the opposite. “I seen that he was extremely nice,” Blount shared with Pittsburgh’s The PM Team during Super Bowl media week. “[Coming in] I didn’t know how nice he was. I just knew that he was young. I knew that they wanted somebody to come over as older and more established and be like a mentor-type guy. But when I started seeing the things that he was doing in training camp, I was just like, bro, you are you sure you need another guy?”

After his release a third of the way through the season (more on that below), Blount was feeling negative vibes about his time with the Steelers.

Initially, he felt most of his teammates were as confused as he was about why he wasn’t seeing more playing time. “Except for probably a couple guys, they were actually on my side.”

“Hey, bro, I don’t know how they ain’t got you out here. I don’t know why you ain’t playing. That’s crazy that you ain’t getting no carries. That’s crazy. We ain’t got you in the game. I’m hearing that.”

But after his release, Blount said the tide turned.

“I see reports and stuff come out about: Oh yeah, he was cancerous. We don’t need to cancer like that on the team and da da da da,” he said.

“I never really heard anything from Ben Roethlisberger, but I did hear and see interviews from other guys that was on the team that was like, He was cancerous. But then I seen an interview from Le’Veon, an interview from AB [Antonio Brown], and an interview from all these other guys that’s like, Nah, he wasn’t cancerous.”

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LeGarrette Blount Released by Steelers Following On-Field Incident

As the 2014 season wore on, LeGarrette Blount’s role decreased with the emergence of Le’Veon Bell. A frustrated Blount left the field before the end of the Pittsburgh Steelers-Tennessee Titans matchup on November 17, 2014. Pittsburgh squeaked out a victory over Tennessee, but Blount didn’t get any touches.

Blount felt offensive coordinator Todd Haley led him on. “When I’m going to Todd and asking you, Hey bro, what’s going on? Why am I not playing? And you’re telling me, We’re gonna make sure we get you in there. We’re gonna make sure we put this together for you. Only for me to go out there and not have zero carries.”

Blount refutes reports that he left during the game. He claimed when Roethlisberger took a knee, he went in the tunnel, changed the got on the team bus. “And these guys came and got me off the bus, said, Hey bro, come in here with us. We know how you feel. We understand. Just come in here and let, let Mike [Tomlin] talk to us, and then we going to disperse. And that’s how that, that’s how that relationship ended.”

Released by the Steelers less than 24 hours after the incident, Blount returned to the New England Patriots for a second and wildly successful stint. He went on to win three Super Bowls (Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles) and enjoyed a career-high 1,161 yards and league-high 18 touchdowns in 2016.

Per Pro Football Reference, Blount rushed for 266 yards and two touchdowns in 11 games with the Steelers.

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