The Pittsburgh Steelers figure to have one of the best offenses in all of football in 2017. That is, if they have their entire complement of players on the field.
Ben Roethlisberger will still be under center behind one of the best offensive lines in football. Antonio Brown will still be his No. 1 target. Martavis Bryant is back in the picture. Eli Rogers, Sammie Coates, Darrius Heyward-Bey, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Cobi Hamilton will provide passing game support. And hopefully Le'Veon Bell will be there to tie the whole thing together.
Bell has yet to sign his franchise tag tender after failing to agree to a long-term deal with the team by the league-mandated deadline. "I'm not in a rush to sign for something I'm not valued at, if I feel I'm worth more than what they are offering me," he said.
He's not expected to show up for the start of training camp later this week. Brown, though, is trying to convince him to come around. Brown told ESPN.com that he had a "top secret" two-hour phone call with Bell Saturday evening.
"We need him. I need him," Brown said. "If we're going to do what we desire to do, we need every guy a part of the organization in a helmet to be there committed to the cause. He's a special piece. Obviously, we know what he brings to the team, his dimension playing football, but he's a special individual. I pray that we have him there."
He's right, obviously. Last season Bell became the first player in NFL history to average at least 100 rushing yards and 50 receiving yards per game for a season. He averaged 157 total yards per game, which if he kept it up over 16 games, would break the single-season total yardage record. He's a foundational part of the offense, and the Steelers need him in camp.
Brown himself is already geared up for training camp, having just finished his "Live Your Vision" ProCamp over the weekend in Pittsburgh.
In a few days, he'll join his teammates to get ready for the season. Whether his phone call to Bell worked or not is an open question.