Ben Roethlisberger will factor the growing knowledge of CTE into his decision on whether to extend his career beyond the 2017 season.

Roethlisberger also considered retiring after the 2016 season.

"I've been blessed to do this a long time," Roethlisberger, 35, told the Post-Gazette. He starts each training camp with a series of interviews with long-standing local media. "I think it's just seeing my kids growing up, and in the offseason I love getting to spend time with them, and then I come here and football season just has to take up so much of your time. Even when you get home, I try my best to turn it off when I walk in the front door. I think I do a pretty good job of that, but it still consumes you in a way.

"Just all those things combined -- being healthy, being able to play catch with my kids. I feel good mentally, I know this new study that came out that 90 percent [of NFL] players' brains who were studied had CTE.

"There's a lot of scary things, and I think my wife would be OK if I hung it up, too. But I still love the guys, I still love the game, so it was right for me to come back and give it everything I have this year."

Antonio Brown is lobbying for the Pittsburgh Steelers to secure Le'Veon Bell for the long-term.

Bell will play this season on a franchise tag of $12.12 million after he and the Steelers couldn't reach an extension by the July 17 deadline. 

"We need him. I need him," Brown said. "If we're going to do what we desire to do, we need every guy a part of the organization in a helmet to be there committed to the cause. He's a special piece. Obviously we know what he brings to the team, his dimension playing football, but he's a special individual. I pray that we have him there."

Brown signed a four-year, $68-million extension in February.

Ike Taylor, a former teammate of Le'Veon Bell, believes there is a "strong possibility" the running back will hold out.

Bell is seeking a long-term deal from the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers have reportedly offered Bell a deal worth $12 million annually.

Pittsburgh Steelers rookie James Conner ranks No. 2 among all NFL players on the Dick's Sporting Goods' jersey report behind Tom Brady.

Conner captivated college football by overcoming Hodgkin lymphoma in 2015 while at Pitt.

The Steelers drafted the playmaker in the third round, No. 105 overall.

"It's a dream come true," Conner said about staying in Pittsburgh. "They gave me the opportunity of a lifetime, and they are going to get a hard worker and a great football player."

According to Ike Taylor, Le'Veon Bell wants to be paid as both a No. 1 running back plus a No. 2 wide receiver.

Bell caught 75 balls last season, which was the second most on the Pittsburgh Steelers.

As Bill Barnwell points out, combining the money for both LeSean McCoy and Michael Crabtree would put Bell at $47.2 million over three seasons.

Bell will play under the franchise tag in 2017.

The Pittsburgh Steelers couldn't come to an agreement on a long-term deal with Le'Veon Bell before Monday's deadline.

Bell will now play out this season under the terms of his franchise tender.

The Steelers released a brief statement from Kevin Colbert that said, in part, that the team plans to "resume our efforts to address his contract situation" after the 2017 season comes to an end.

The running back released a brief statement on Twitter, saying "I guess I just gotta get better..."

The next question is whether Bell will sign his $12.1 million tender in order to join the Steelers in training camp.

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Le'Veon Bell were unable to agree upon a long-term deal.

Bell will play under the exclusive franchise tag worth $12.12 million in 2017.

Next year, the Steelers can tag Bell again at around $14 million or re-sign him. As expected, Bell's negotiations with the Steelers pressed against the deadline of July 17 at 4 p.m. ET, a similar theme with star players such as Dez Bryant and Von Miller in recent years.

Bell had the leverage to surpass LeSean McCoy's five-year, $40 million deal with the Buffalo Bills.

Bell's 157 total yards per game last season ranks third all-time for a running back. 

NFL Network ranked Bell the No. 9 overall player in its 2017 rankings.

I guess I just gotta get better...

— Le'Veon Bell (@L_Bell26) July 17, 2017

Martavis Bryant wants to have a conversation with Ben Roethlisberger when the Pittsburgh Steelers report to training camp in a couple of weeks.

"I feel like we need to," Bryant said. "We should have a man-to-man. Because some of the things he put out there about me, I kind of didn't agree with how he did it. So I want to sit down and hear his own opinion, man-to-man, about why he did that."

Bryant was suspended four games in 2015 and the entire 2016 season for violations of the league's substance abuse policy. Roethlisberger was highly critical of the wide receiver when he was suspended for last season, telling the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Bryant had lied to him and that the team felt "let down."

"I mean, at that time, I was going through a lot of stuff. I wasn't really even worried about his opinion at that time, because there was just a lot that was going on," Bryant said. "He's my brother. I love him. But at the same time, I have my own family outside of football. I have my own problems. I'm not just going to come up to you and open up to you about what's going on with my personal life. That's not how I am. We just didn't see eye-to-eye on that, but as far as right now, everything's great."

DeAngelo Williams revealed he'd prefer not to play for the Dallas Cowboys, Cleveland Browns, Carolina Panthers or Jacksonville Jaguars.

Williams has been one of the NFL's most productive backup running backs over the past two seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

While his reasons for not wanting to play for the Browns and Jaguars were business-related, they were purely personal regarding the Panthers and Cowboys.

Williams grew up as a fan of the San Francisco 49ers.

"My fandom for the team I was raised as will not allow me to go to the Cowboys," Williams told Schefter. "I'm an '80s baby ... and the 49ers ruled the '80s. The Cowboys somewhat did something in the '90s; I even refuse to give them that. ...

"The Cowboys, they win. They just don't ever show up during the playoffs. They always disappear in the playoffs. I've got a great depiction of the Cowboys' fan base. During the regular season last year, they were on cloud nine. You couldn't tell them anything because they were going to win the 'ship -- that's all they said. Fans just got extremely super annoying. Then, the minute they lose, they either got cheated, somebody was hurt -- the excuses start flowing. It's just amazing to me. That fan base just in general can't handle defeat. Still, to this day, they say that the Dez Bryant catch against the Green Bay Packers was a catch!"

Le'Veon Bell has one week left to sign a long-term deal before playing the season under the franchise tag with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"I hope he gets the deal he deserves," David Johnson told the MMQB. "I hope it's going to be the type of deal that cornerbacks get and quarterbacks get."