What would happen if Le'Veon Bell faked an injury when he returns to the Steelers?

Le’Veon Bell’s effort to give all of the worst American sports commentators the chance to share their terrible opinions continues into its fourth week of the NFL season. We still have no indication of when he’s going to end his holdout and report to the Steelers. Coach Mike Tomlin won’t even talk about Bell anymore. Is there no way forward?

One of Bell’s former teammates offered a suggestion. Retired Steelers pass rusher James Harrison said Bell should sign the franchise tag offer, report to practice, go through the work and come up with a mysterious injury on Saturday that wouldn’t allow him play.

“And, for me, I’d give you everything in practice, you would see — the cameras would see — that I am fine, I am healthy. But come Saturday, ‘Something ain’t right, I can’t play on Sunday.’ Because if I go out here and I mess something up I’m losing a lot of money,” Harrison told Fox Sports.

Bell is not holding out for a new contract. He can’t. Because the Steelers gave him the franchise tag and the deadline for negotiating a new long-term deal passed in July. All he can do now is sign the one-year, $14.5 franchise tag offer sheet. If he doesn’t sign it and return to the team by No. 13, he’ll lose a year of service and will not qualify to be an unrestricted free agent next season.

Bell’s main concern now is that the Steelers will shave off his earning potential with a heavy workload and increased risk of injury this season. Holding out until the last possible date would keep some of the milage off his treads, even if that strategy isn’t going over well with some of his teammates.

So what if he did report and fake an injury?

Harrison’s suggestion gets points for accuracy. If Bell reported to the team but couldn’t play because of his injury, he would still accrue a year of service and be a free agent in 2019.

The reality is that it might not be that easy.

The team could challenge Bell’s assertion, setting off a back and forth between team doctors, physicals sought by the players, independent docs and so on. He’s risk the possibility that the Steelers would suspend him without pay. That would also set up a legal battle between the team and Bell, and by extension the league and the union, over whether or not his 2018 season counts toward free agency.

It might also hurt his long game here, looking ahead to free agency next spring.

Bell’s overall play is a risky one because the market for even the best running backs is still unlikely to pay him an average of $14.5 million per season. The Steelers reportedly made a five-year, $70 million offer this year, which sounded great until you read the fine print — it only guaranteed him $10 million at signing, a bullshit number.

A recent piece from the MMQB polled a few unnamed NFL execs, and the most optimistic guess for what Bell could get was a deal close to Todd Gurley’s, somewhere in the neighborhood of $56 to $60 million. The actual guaranteed money would be a different matter entirely.

And if he did fake an injury and get into a long-running arbitration battle with the Steelers, it might also end up dragging down his market value.

While most of what NFL execs says anonymously is complete bullshit, it is worth pointing out that one said Bell’s current holdout (not a potential sick out) wasn’t likely to impact his market value next year.

An injury of any kind, real or imagined, also takes another option off the table, a trade. The NFL trade deadline is Oct. 30, a few weeks before the deadline for Bell to show up and have an accrued season.

So, Harrison’s suggestion probably isn’t a realistic option. But ...

There is another way!

If Bell’s concerned about wear and tear, he could think about taking a page from Seahawks safety Earl Thomas’ playbook. Thomas held out during the offseason, but showed up when the season started.

However, he’s now sitting out practices, which he did last week before Seattle hosted the Dallas Cowboys. It’s not making him more popular with the management there, but it doesn’t seem to be hurting his play on the field. His two interceptions last week were pivotal to his team beating the Cowboys.

There’s no reason Bell couldn’t take a similar approach.

One thing Thomas has done differently is that he seems to have communicated with his teammates throughout the process. That’s one area where Bell erred. His fellow Steelers were supportive of his holdout during camp and the preseason, but they started criticizing him openly once he failed to show up for the start of the season, which he had assured them he would do.

Who knows when Bell will be back, probably not before Mike Tomlin flips his lid when he’s finally asked one too many questions about the whole thing. At this point, I wouldn’t bet on Bell showing up anytime before the Nov. 13 deadline. And when he does, don’t look for him to have too many mysterious Saturday injuries.

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