Steelers news: Le'Veon Bell and Vontaze Burfict drama, Mason Rudolph return, and more

Pittsburgh Steelers fans have received more news than expected early in the week. After the buzz of the 2023 NFL Draft has died down a bit, we learned that Pittsburgh was bringing in former Pro Bowl linebacker, Kwon Alexander, for a visit. It appears he may have left the facility without a contract.

Now an old fire is kindling and drama is heating back up involving a former Steelers All-Pro and a player who had a reputation for being among the dirtiest in the league. The latest Steelers news involved a challenge Le'Veon Bell issued to Vontaze Burfict and Mason Rudolph potentially signing with Pittsburgh.

Steelers news:

I don't know if anyone expected the drama to still be going on between Le'Veon Bell and Vontaze Burfict, but here we are. The former Steelers running back was on a podcast when he hinted that he would like to get into the boxing ring with an old rival. Bell didn't mention Bufict by name but claimed we knew who he was talking about. Bell suffered an ACL tear when Burfict pulled him back on a play Bell claimed Burfict tried to injure him.

Burfict made things interesting when he chimed back at Bell with a post on social media. But instead of adding fuel to the fire, the former Bengals linebacker suggested changing the narrative and competing against each other in a charity golf event.

Burfict had a big issue with taking the high road during his playing days, but he did a great job of maintaining his cool in this case. Bell, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be very fond of that idea. There are no current updates as to whether these two former NFL players intend to commit to either head-to-head challenge.

More Steelers news:

In other Steelers news, it certainly sounds like Mason Rudolph is going to be on the Pittsburgh Steelers roster for the 2023 season. Andrew Fillipponi of 93.7 The Fan claims that Rudolph has signed with the team, but no official announcement has been made at this point in time.

Rudolph was expected to draw some interest on the market as an unrestricted free agent this offseason, but opposing teams looked elsewhere at the backup quarterback position. Now Rudolph appears destined to remain the QB3 in Pittsburgh behind Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky. We are still waiting for this move to become official and to see his contract details.

NFL news:

According to Eric Edholm of NFL.com, The Cincinnati Bengals have been involved in contract talks with quarterback, Joe Burrow. The former number one overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft is under contract through the 2024 season (counting the fifth-year option), but the Bengals will get something done with their star QB before then.

Lamar Jackson recently set the stage for what a Joe Burrow contract extension could look like, and it's guaranteed to be lofty -- likely north of $52 million per season. This new extension is projected to make him the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL in terms of yearly value.