Mar 12, 2016 6 min read

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“I am confident that it won’t happen again,” Martavis Bryant on his return from suspension last season for violation of the league’s substance abuse policy.

“My issues are behind me, and now I am going to move forward with my career and be a better role model for the kids and continue to work and continue to put a better image out there for myself. I really learned a lot about myself and how to keep myself out of certain situations that will get me in trouble.”

Or not.

Bryant’s agent said Saturday that his client has been informed he’s facing yet another suspension for violation of the league substance abuse policy, one that this time could put the Steelers’ third-year receiver out for all of 2016.

That’s a serious blow to the Steelers, but not the end of the world.

His agent claims that the suspension is for missing several drug tests. But, who knows? Perhaps he’s just protecting his client.

More important is the fact that, for whatever reason, Bryant continues to put himself in these kind of situations.

If he hanging out with Whiz Khalifa too much? The two are buddies.

Did he miss some tests. If so, why would he do that knowing it would count as a strike?

Can’t he just say no?

We won’t know, because it says here that if/when Bryant returns to the Steelers – and at this point, the team might just decide to cut him loose – he’ll say exactly what he said last year upon his return.

For whatever reason, some guys just don’t get it, even with hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars at stake.

One of his agents went on record as saying Bryant is dealing with depression and has checked himself into a clinc. That’s good. If Bryant is dealing with that kind of issue, he needs help, not scorn.

• The Steelers made Darrius Heyward-Bey one of their priority re-signings last week, getting him a new deal on Monday. That looks pretty prudent right now.

So, too, does their hard play for speedy tight end Ladarius Green, who will be the big red zone target for Ben Roethlisberger, especially if Bryant isn’t around.

Don’t think those two things and Bryant’s suspension weren’t intertwined. It’s much the same way the Steelers drafted Sammie Coates in the third round last year when they learned Bryant would be suspended.

That’s the problem when you have a guy like that on your roster. You never know when he’s going to go down for the count.

• All this being said, Bryant obviously has a problem. Yes, it’s just weed that got him in this situation. Yes, probably 50 percent or more of the population has smoked it at one time or another and it’s actually legal in two of the 22 states in which the league has teams.

But it’s banned by the league. And part of Bryant’s employment is dependent on him not smoking it.

But because he did, he’s in the pickle in which he now finds himself.

He needs help. He’s been given help already, but apparently, he needs more.

That’s a shame, because he has tremendous God-given talent.

Bryant’s issues with pot are a big reason why he fell to the fourth round of the draft. Some guys can give such things up, ala. Tyrann Mathieu and become very good players.

For others, it becomes a serious issue, ala. Josh Gordon.

That’s why the Steelers typically didn’t mess with these kind of guys in the draft. But there was pressure on the organization to win after missing the playoffs two consecutive seasons, so they took a chance.

It was, however, an interesting coicidence that Bryant’s news broke soon after Johnny Manziel was released by the Browns.

Manziel, of course, has well-documented alcohol problems; so much so, in fact, it led to his release by Cleveland.

But he’s free to sign and play elsewhere, while Bryant faces a suspension.

• The Steelers will reportedly have Seattle left tackle Russell Okung in for a visit soon in case Kelvin Beachum happens to sign elsewhere. He will meet with the Jets and some other teams have expressed some interest.

Former Denver left tackle Ryan Harris also is reportedly scheduled for a visit.

The Steelers would prefer to bring back Beachum. The fact that they are interested in free agent left tackles shows that, like me, they’re not necessarily sold on Alejandro Villanueva being the guy all next season.

That doesn’t mean Villanueva doesn’t have a future with the team and might not grow into the role of a starter. But his performance was just so-so last season.

• Sean Spence is visiting Miami and Antwon Blake will meet with the Patriots and Titans this week.

Steelers fans will likely celebrate if Blake signs elsewhere, but if he’s your No. 4 or 5 corner, that’s not a bad thing.

• The Eric Weddle nonsense continues to fester in Twitter land.

It was reported Friday night that Weddle still has four teams “keeping close tabs” on him.

The Steelers were one of the teams listed along with Dallas, Baltimore and Oakland.

Understand that this information is coming from Weddle’s agent, who has a vested interest in making it sound like as many teams as possible are interested in his clent, thus driving up his price.

Of course, some fans immediately jumped on that to mean the Steelers are in the running to get the 31-year-old former Pro Bowl safety.

Again, I’m here to tell you that they are not going to get into a bidding war for a 31-year-old player on the decline. It’s just not going to happen. It totally goes against everything the organization has preached in terms of its offseason plan.

Typically, if the Steelers are going to sign a free agent from another team, it’s a guy who is coming off his first contract. They haven’t made a habit of signing guys coming off their second deal.

Why? Because those guys are typically older and looking for their last big deal.

Now, if Weddle is truly only concerned about having a chance to win a Super Bowl, fine. But I doubt that’s the case. In fact, when a player says it’s not about the money, it’s definitely about the money.

Weddle is coming off a deal in which he made $40 million over five years. That included a $13 million signing bonus.

At this point, the Steelers couldn’t even afford to offer a contract that would pay him half of that. But somebody else – Oakland, which has to spend a bunch of money to get to the CBA negotiated floor – will, and then some.

So that is why I again write that it’s highly unlikely Weddle is signing here.