Steelers Suspended WR Martavis Bryant Appling For Reinstatement, Won’t Return This Year

Tom Pelissero of USA Today reports that suspended Steelers WR Martavis Bryant has applied for reinstatement to the NFL on Tuesday.

• Pelissero adds that Bryant won’t return for the playoffs, but is hoping to be back with the Steelers for the 2017 season.
• Bryant’s agent, Thomas Santanello, tells Jeremy Fowler of the report his client has applied for reinstatement to the NFL: “Martavis and myself are going through the (reinstatement) process and will apply in the near future.”

Bryant was suspended for the entire 2016 season for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy. This came after Bryant served a four-game ban in 2015 season for a separate substance-abuse violation.

Pittsburgh placed him on the reserve/suspended by Commissioner list after he accepted his one-year suspension from the NFL.

Bryant recently admitted in an interview that he considered quitting football (via Sports Illustrated) but he has since changed his mind and has been working out with the intention of returning to the NFL.

The NFL has taken their time when it comes to reinstating players who are serving indefinite bans such as Raiders OLB Aldon Smith, so it will be interesting to see how the league handles this moving forward.

Bryant, 25, was selected by the Steelers in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL draft. He’s currently in the third year of his four-year, $2.7 million rookie contract and stands to make a base salary of $690,000 for the 2017 season.

In 2015, Bryant appeared in 11 games for the Steelers and totaled 50 receptions, 765 receiving yards and seven total touchdowns. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 61 receiver out of 121 qualifying players.

We’ll have more regarding Bryant’s return to the NFL as the news is available.