AFC North Notes: Bengals, Le’Veon Bell, Steelers

Bengals

• Ian Rapoport reports that Bengals DE Michael Johnson is expected to miss a few weeks with the knee injury.
• Bengals first-round C Billy Price is believed to have a sprained ankle and Johnson is believed to have a sprained MCL. (Katherine Terrell)

Le’Veon Bell

Steelers holdout RB Le’Veon Bell recently spoke with Maurice Jones-Drew, who mentioned that Bell was happy for James Conner but there are still concerns about what his usage could be if he was in the lineup.

“[Bell] was happy for James Conner after that performance but that performance justifies why he’s not there right now,” Jones-Drew said on the Dave Dameshek Football Program earlier this week. “If you’re going to give James Conner 31 carries, imagine how many you’d give to Le’Veon Bell?”

According to Jones-Drew, Bell was disappointed by the comments made by his teammates last week, but he likes Pittsburgh and wants to the team to do well in his absence.

“[Bell] said to me, ‘People think that I don’t like Pittsburgh, I don’t like James Conner, I don’t like these guys,‘” Jones-Drew said. “He was like, ‘Yes, I was disappointed they went out and spoke about my contract,’ understandably so. He was like, ‘But I still want them to do well, they’re still guys that I work with and guys that I’ve put in this extra work with — blood, sweat and tears like I still want them to do well.‘”

• Albert Breer puts the over/under for Bell to return to the Steelers at Oct. 1, which is when he’d have lost over $3.4 million of salary.
• Breer says he isn’t so sure there’s a “pot of gold” waiting for Bell in free agency next year due to the fact that he has an injury history, multiple prior suspensions, and has strained relationships with teammates.

Steelers

• The Steelers list G David DeCastro (hand), CB Joe Haden (hamstring) and DE Tyson Alualu (shoulder) all as doubtful for Sunday’s game against the Chiefs with QB Ben Roethlisberger (elbow) being questionable.