The Steelers have no plans on moving on from All-Pro running back Le’Veon Bell.

Team president Art Rooney II is optimistic the team can sign Bell to a long-term extension going into the 2018 season Jeff Locke Jersey , but didn’t rule out using the franchise tag for a second straight year as a precaution if the two sides can’t come to an agreement before free agency begins next month.

While allowing that contract negotiations can be hard to predict, Rooney stressed Wednesday that ”the good news is both sides want to get something done and hopefully that will lead us to getting it done.”

Bell played under the franchise tag this season after rejecting a new contract last summer. He responded by leading the NFL in touches (406) while finishing with 1,946 total yards and 11 touchdowns to earn his second All-Pro spot in four years as the Steelers finished 13-3 and won their second straight AFC North title before being upset in the divisional round by Jacksonville.

Bell told ESPN in the run-up to the playoff loss he would consider sitting out 2018 or retiring if Pittsburgh used the franchise tag again, but softened his stance prior to the Pro Bowl, saying he believes he’s close to signing a new deal, one that would likely make him the highest-paid back in the league.

While Bell figures to be back next fall, defensive backs coach Carnell Lake will not. Lake stepped down on Wednesday after seven seasons, citing a desire to return to California to watch his youngest son finish up his high school football career.

Pittsburgh’s secondary underwent a massive overhaul during Lake’s tenure, as Troy Polamalu, Ike Taylor and Ryan Clark gave way to Mike Mitchell, Artie Burns and Sean Davis.

Rooney praised Lake’s contributions while adding that overall he believes the team still has work to do despite finishing with a franchise-record and NFL-high 56 sacks.

”I think at times we weren’t as solid against the run as we’d like to be and as we’ve been historically as a Steeler defense Ricardo Allen Jersey ,” Rooney said.

”We’ve typically been able to stop the run, so we’ve had occasions where maybe we weren’t as consistent in that area as I think we’d like to be.”

Namely against the Jaguars. The Steelers allowed 231 yards rushing in a regular-season loss to Jacksonville and 164 more in a 45-42 playoff stunner.

Rooney, however, downplayed the idea the Steelers were looking ahead to a rematch with New England and defended coach Mike Tomlin’s approach.

”Anybody that wants to look at Mike’s track record since he’s been our coach, I think the record speaks for itself,” Rooney said.

Rooney praised the leadership among the coaching staff and in the locker room in general following a bumpy autumn sprinkled with off-the-field issues from a ”botched” attempt to sidestep the debate around the national anthem in Chicago to linebacker Ryan Shazier’s life-altering spinal injury to the decision to cut longtime linebacker James Harrison, who promptly signed with New England and reached the Super Bowl.

Rooney said there was blame to go around on both sides for the way Harrison’s tenure with Pittsburgh ended, adding he would have preferred Harrison’s year end with getting five sacks in a Super Bowl with the Steelers.

Shazier will have a role with Pittsburgh next season whether his playing career continues or not. The 25-year-old spent nearly two months in the hospital after injuring his spine against Cincinnati in December and is undergoing outpatient rehabilitation.

Shazier posted a picture of himself standing with a little help shortly before his discharge and he made several appearances at practices and games after getting hurt.

”I expect Ryan is going to be here one way or the other and have a role with the team one way or the other in 2018 for sure,” Rooney said.

—

Tiger Woods waited 12 years to get back to Riviera and lasted only two days.

Woods had three straight bogeys early on the back nine and didn’t play well enough to make up for his misses. He had a 5-over 76 and missed the cut in the Genesis Open for the first time in nine appearances as a pro.

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He was at 6-over 148, one shot worse than his PGA Tour debut as a 16-year-old at Riviera.

Patrick Cantlay ran off three straight birdies toward the end of his morning round, starting with a tap-in on the par-3 sixth when he missed a hole-in-one by a fraction of an inch Al Davis Jersey , and shot a 69. He was tied with Graeme McDowell (66), the former U.S. Open champion who is trying to work his way back from a two-year slump. They were at 7-under 135.

Sam Saunders was also at 7-under after making back-to-back birdies until it was too dark to continue. He had three holes remaining in his second round. Ryan Moore bogeyed his final hole for a 68 and was one shot behind at 136.

NBA

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Buddy Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic got the All-Star weekend off to a running start in the World’s latest victory over the NBA’s young Americans.

Hield scored 29 points with five 3-pointers, and his Sacramento Kings teammate won the MVP award with 26 points and seven 3-pointers in the World team’s 155-124 victory over the U.S. team in the Rising Stars Challenge.

The annual showcase of the NBA’s top rookies and second-year players again served as the opening to the three-day All-Star festivities, which are being held in Los Angeles for the record sixth time.

But this show was headlined by two shooting stars from the upstate rivals of the hometown Lakers and Clippers, with Hield and Bogdanovic combining to hit 12 of the World’s 23 3-pointers. The World has won this All-Star showcase four consecutive times.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Quavo is known for dropping beats and delivering rhymes as one-third of Atlanta’s hip-hop trio Migos. He can also make buckets on the basketball court.

Quavo was named MVP after scoring a game-high 19 points to lead Team Clippers to a 75-66 win over Team Lakers in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game.

When Migos members Offset and Takeoff arrived to take their courtside seats just before the start of the third quarter, Quavo had already piled up nine points, three rebounds and one assist. A former high school quarterback, he scored six of his team’s first 11 points.

Showcasing a smooth shot and ability to drive to the basket, Quavo finished 7 of 10 from the field. He also had five rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block.

AUTO RACING

DAYTONA BEACH Michael Dickson Jersey , Fla. (AP) – Johnny Sauter wanted to win this race, maybe as badly as any other.

Sauter won the season-opening NASCAR Truck Series race and dedicated it to crew chief Joe Shear Jr., whose wife died unexpectedly in late December.

Sauter notched his series-leading third victory at the famed track and made it three in a row for GMS Racing at Daytona. Sauter won in 2016, and Kaz Grala did the same last year.

Sauter used a big run to pass David Gilliland for the lead with eight laps to go and then held off Justin Haley, Joe Nemechek, Ben Rhodes and Scott Lagasse Jr. None of those chasers provided much of a challenge down the stretch.

It was Sauter’s 18th victory in 222 starts in the Truck Series. He also won at Daytona in 2013.

But this one was for Shear, who said coming to Daytona ”kept me sane.”

BASEBALL

MIAMI (AP) – Miami-Dade County is suing former Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria and the new ownership group led by Derek Jeter seeking money from the $1.2 billion sale of the team.

The suit contends a 2009 agreement calls for the county and city of Miami to receive a share of profits from any sale of the team. The deal was related to an agreement to finance the team’s ballpark that opened in 2012 and was built mostly with taxpayer money.

Loria bought the Marlins for $158.5 million in 2002 and sold the team to Jeter’s group last fall. He claimed a loss on the deal, which the county describes as ”fuzzy math.”

PHOENIX (AP) – Pitchers Dan Straily of Miami and Brandon Maurer of Kansas City lost their salary arbitration cases, leaving players with an 11-10 lead with only Cincinnati second baseman Scooter Gennett awaiting a decision.

The 22 hearings are the most since players went 14-10 in 1990. Just five players settled among the 27 players who swapped proposed salaries with their teams last month.

Straily was awarded $3,375,000 instead of his $3.55 million request by arbitrators James Darby David Sharpe Jersey , Sylvia Skratek and Edna Francis, who heard the case Thursday. Straily was eligible for the first time after earning $552,100 last year.

Maurer will earn $2.95 million instead of his $3.5 million request in a decision by Matt Goldberg, Dan Brent and Jeanne Wood. The 27-year-old right-hander made $1.9 million in 2017.

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) – Edinson Volquez has agreed to a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers, returning to his original team with a chance to be a candidate for the rotation in 2019.

The 34-year-old Volquez will not pitch this season while recovering from ligament reconstruction surgery on his right elbow last August.

The minor league agreement includes an invitation to major league spring training. It covers the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

Volquez has a 93-87 career record in 276 games for seven teams.

NFL

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – The Panthers have reinstated interim general manager Marty Hurney after an NFL investigation found no wrongdoing into charges of harassment by his ex-wife.

Hurney had been on a paid leave of absence during Authentic Womens D.J. Fluker Jersey