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Antonio Brown, left, and Le'Veon Bell celebrate on the sideline after a Steelers touchdown during the second half of a game against the Cleveland Browns on Jan. 1, 2017, at Heinz Field.
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Steelers mailbag: Can Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell ever come back?

Jared Wickerham/Associated Press

Steelers mailbag: Can Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell ever come back?

Welcome to Brian Batko’s weekly Steelers mailbag. You’re more than welcome to email him at bbatko@post-gazette.com, tweet him @BrianBatko or slide into his DMs to inquire about the Steelers, NFL or anything out of bounds. Let’s get started:


Green: The Steelers have always been very kind to ex-players who want to come back and retire a Steeler. If [Antonio Brown] and [Le’Veon Bell] were to ask if they can retire a Steeler, do you think there is any way the Rooneys would allow that? Or, have AB and LB crossed a line that can't be forgotten? Also, have the Steelers ever turned down anyone who requested retirement as a Steeler?

Brian: Asking this question presupposes that either man would want to do such a thing. Judging from their comments since leaving the franchise, that seems, shall we say, unlikely. But, hey, Ramon Foster offered a current player’s perspective when he tweeted last month about ex-Steelers letting bygones be bygones: “Most players at one point in their life want to take their kids back to the place where they once played, don’t burn too many bridges.”

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Team president Art Rooney II, naturally, took the high road throughout the Brown saga, if you’ll recall. In early January, he was honest with Gerry Dulac about the situation, but also agreed a month later to meet with Brown in-person. And yet, you have to think some bridges were indeed burned from there, as Brown went on his media tour telling one side of the story. As for Bell, he only played five seasons with the Steelers, and 66 total games, including playoffs. Productive as he was, durability wasn’t his calling card, and longevity isn’t what anyone will remember him for.

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But to answer your last question: Yes, actually, they have more-or-less declined. The best example might be former quarterback Mike Tomczak, who started 27 games over seven seasons in Pittsburgh. Tomczak signed with Detroit after his Steelers career ended, but never played for the Lions, and wanted to sign a one-day contract with the team he played more games for than anyone else. He announced his retirement at Saint Vincent during training camp in 2001, but then-director of football operations Kevin Colbert cited salary cap issues in telling the Post-Gazette, “We’re not signing him. We can't.”

Now, as far as whether Brown or Bell could ever come back to be honored in any capacity? Well, they didn’t win a Super Bowl, so that eliminates a usual reason for those types of gatherings. But, considering they’re two of the greatest players at their positions in franchise history, perhaps we should never say never. It would be delightfully awkward.


Tom S: Another LB question: All he wanted was money, and he earned zero last year from any NFL team while he could have earned $14M tagged, or $20M from the first year of the five year deal he passed on from the Steelers. Now he starts a 4 year deal worth $52M. Assuming he did not get hurt last year, in my math, he has lost $10-20M in life time revenue, he has no chance to recover. He’s no Troy Aikman or Shannon Sharpe, so his post playing days will not be filled in a studio talking about football making a very good living. So, the question is, does he feel like he actually won, and his sitting out a year was the right move? And, as many have pointed out, he has to play for the Jets, who have had in the past eight years: one winning season, no playoff appearances, and average 6.25 wins/season. Not to mention, the fans and media in NY are not very forgiving….

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Brian: How soon you forget that “Juice” has a lucrative music career awaiting him once football is over. If you’re into autotune rap, he’s definitely your man.

Bell hasn’t been at OTAs with the Jets, and thus hasn’t met with media in any official capacity since his “big interview” with Sports Illustrated a couple months ago. It will be interesting to see what kind of questions he faces and how he responds to them when he shows up, assuming he does interviews at the team’s mandatory minicamp next week. Remember former Steelers defensive tackle Steve McLendon? He told reporters in New Jersey that he tried to persuade Bell to attend the optional workouts, but added his belief that “he’s going to be in extremely good shape. He always has been and I don’t see that changing. … I have no doubt when he comes back that he’s going to be ready to go. He’s a hell of a player.”

(Speaking of McLendon, who played with Bell from 2013-15 in Pittsburgh, he also predicted Bell will retire as a Jet. Consider that a bonus addendum to our first mailbag question this week.)

Here’s a prediction, though: Bell will continue to double and triple and quadruple down on his reasoning for why he’s handled the past year and change of his career the way he has. And really, we won't know whether it was smart until we see how his time in the Big Apple plays out. It doesn’t appear that he made a prudent financial decision, and he’s already set to be playing for a different general manager than the one who signed him, but he’s healthy. He should be fresh. He’ll still have an opportunity to prove he’s the best running back alive, even if that might be difficult to do in a setting that seems quite dysfunctional.

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Franklin Family: I know the NFL tracks how often defenses blitz. What is the official definition of a ‘blitz’ to the NFL? Is it anyone rushing other than a down lineman?

Brian: Wow, a whole family asking a question in the mailbag. That’s certainly a first. As best I can tell, the NFL itself doesn’t include blitz percentage among its “NextGen” stats. While your family’s proposed definition makes sense, the Football Outsiders website broadly defines a blitz as “an aggressive play by the defense when they attack a specific play by the offense” and a zone blitz as “any play where the defense drops at least one defensive lineman into coverage while rushing at least one defensive back or linebacker.”

It appears that in tracking blitz percentage, Football Outsiders and ESPN Stats & Info classify a blitz as “five or more pass-rushers,” so, yeah, that’s probably the most logical definition for the purpose of your question. That probably simplifies the term across the board, considering some teams play a 3-4 base defense like the Steelers and others play 4-3. For what it’s worth, the Steelers were among the blitz-happiest teams in the NFL last year, per ESPN.

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Be sure to compliment Joe Starkey and also send me questions. Brian Batko: bbatko@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrianBatko.

First Published: May 30, 2019, 2:35 p.m.

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