With the news that Le'Veon Bell could report to the Steelers and sign his franchise tender during the team's bye week following their Week 6 game at Cincinnati, many have wondered how he'll fit back into a locker room that wasn't happy when he didn't report to start the season.
As expected, however, the Steelers, who are off to a 1-2-1 record without their star running back, would be more than happy to see him occupying his space at the edge of the locker room.
"That's awesome. We love Le'Veon," said Maurkice Pouncey as the Steelers began preparations to host the Falcons Sunday. "I think sometimes people get it misconstrued. We want all the best for him. People take things the wrong way sometimes."
But Pouncey and some of the team's other offensive linemen were not all that happy when Bell didn't report and sign his $14.54-million franchise tender at the start of the season. And they weren't afraid to express that anger.
Bell has skipped the first four weeks of the season, costing himself $855,000 per week. And if he misses the next two games, the Steelers would owe him $9.4 million for the remainder of this season.
Ramon Foster, who is in the final season of a contract that pays him $2.67 million this season, was especially critical of Bell's actions given the money he was passing up. But he had no reaction to the news Bell could be back in a couple of weeks.
"We've got enough stuff in-house that we have to deal with," Foster said. "When he shows up, that will be awesome. If he shows up later, that will be cool, too. We just need to win these games in front of us until he does. We'll see how it goes when he gets here. He'll be our teammate. I don't know, we'll see what his thing is, ask him more questions I guess."
The Steelers can't really afford to think that far down the road. At 1-2-1, they know they can't afford to be 1-4-1 if and when Bell returns.
"We can't look ahead. It's just like a guy being injured," Foster said. "We've got to handle the business in front of us. We can't look forward to that. We've got to be honed in on winning games now."
And the things that were said when Bell didn't report, as he had done in a similar situation in 2017, were said out of hurt because his teammates felt they had been misled.
"Yeah, it was more of that since it's such a team game," Pouncey said. "We understand. He'll be welcomed with open arms. I wish he was here four weeks ago, but it's totally fine, trust me."