The Sunday Splash! reports have morphed into a Saturday Night Cannonball Competition! as NFL insiders try to one-up each other before game day arrives.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media has seen Adam Schefter of ESPN’s report that it’s “unlikely” that Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell will report by Tuesday’s deadline and raised Schefty a “Steelers don’t expect Bell to show.”
While similar, the reports are inherently different. Schefter’s represents an estimate of objective probability — there’s a less than 50 percent Bell chance that Bell will sign his tender. Rapoport’s report is more subjective, pointing to the current mindset of the team, which has nothing to do with whether Bell actually will show up.
The Steelers seemingly don’t want Bell to show up, which is the only way to explain their willingness to concede a major CBA point that, if deemed to be the law of the land, will have major reverberations throughout the league, as we will more fully explain on Sunday morning.