His holdout will end Sept. 1. Now starts one of Le'Veon Bell's biggest jobs _ to rebuild his image among fans that plummeted over the past month, according to one expert.
Bell, the Steelers record-breaking Pro Bowl halfback, has damaged his brand by not turning up for the Steelers' practices in the spring or training camp and declining to sign his one-year, $12.12 million contract as their franchise tag, Eric Schiffer said.
Bell said on Twitter Monday night that he will return to the team Sept. 1.
"I think he has inflicted damage on his reputation," said Schiffer, CEO of Reputation Management Consultants of Irvine, Calif.
Why?
"Because fans want to see players play. The average fan has a hard time relating to someone passing on the kind of immense income these players get when people are struggling to put food on the table.
"So there is a challenge for the average fan to relate fully to some of the posturing, and I think there's a bit of resentment that a certain population of the fan base has for players who have incredible talent but are making these choices that are just seemingly stratospheric in terms of dollars for the average person and they can't relate."
The Steelers thought they had a five-year contract agreement with Bell's agent July 17 that would pay him an annual average of more than $12 million a year and earn him more than $30 million in the first two years. Bell, though, nixed the deal at the deadline to do so. According to NFL rules, he cannot sign a long-term contract until after the 2017 season.
The negative fan reaction only increased with that news, in Schiffer's opinion.
"When you have a guy with this kind of talent who isn't fully committed, there are some knives that come out amongst the fan base," said Schiffer, who said he is well aware of Bell's situation.
Bell also may have to repair some damaged feelings by teammates who went through all the work in the spring and summer camp without him as they try to win a seventh Super Bowl. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said there are no hard feelings, although he seemed a bit perturbed that Bell did not respond to his text messages.
"I don't know about" damaged relationships on the team, Roethlisberger said. "Obviously we want him here just because he's a brother. I think everyone kind of understands what's going on. I think you'd have to ask each individual person
"There's no hard feelings on my side. I'd love to hear back from him, just a text, 'Hey how ya doing?' but it is what it is."
Schiffer says his company rates what is called "social sentiment," which calculates the positive or negative expressions toward a public figure on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.
He did not have Bell's specific rating but predicted that it is "mixed."
"And mixed is not a good thing for an NFL star," Schiffer said. "It shouldn't be mixed. It should be near 90 percent positive. He's clearly looked at as both an amazing talent and also a large-scale headache and a spoiled brat on another level with certain fans."
Schiffer said the reaction of fans in Pittsburgh would be particularly acute because of the makeup of the region's fan base.
"Absolutely. This is a place that has clearly suffered tremendous challenges and was one of Donald Trump's focuses of the campaign, where he was highlighting those structural and economic problems that affect the average worker.
"And when you have a guy who is making already multiples of what an average worker would get and doesn't want to suit up, then you've got some roaring missiles coming from many different parts of the fan base who look at it and say, 'You've got to be kidding me! I'd take that in a minute.' "
All is not lost for Bell to reclaim the popularity he enjoyed through last season as he averaged 157 total yards per game to lead the NFL, third highest in history.
"I think over time I think it dissipates, assuming he plays well," Schiffer said. "But I think it's going to be hard for him to show up and just get immediate traction. There's an advantage to playing with your teammates and being in combat. So I would imagine it's not going to be catastrophic in terms of his performance, but you're going to see performance challenges. However, he's not going to be condemned long term if he's getting traction on the field."
All he has to do is play well and help the Steelers win.
"Otherwise, he's probably going to be under fire," Schiffer said. "There will be a lot of complaints.
"This is a critical test in a critical time for Le'Veon. It's a very big threat to do these types of things and risk the rant of the core of what ultimately pays your paycheck. The fans are the owners at the end of the day. The fans are ultimately paying him and players shouldn't forget that."
