Pittsburgh Steelers pre-draft visit spotlights Markel Bell’s rare size—and the obvious trade-offs
The pittsburgh steelers have started bringing potential NFL Draft targets to their practice facility, and one of the first visits drew attention for a simple reason: Miami (Fla. ) offensive tackle Markel Bell’s size is so extreme it becomes the story before anything else.
What the Pittsburgh Steelers are signaling by hosting Markel Bell
Markel Bell visited the Pittsburgh Steelers’ practice facility on Friday as the team begins hosting possible targets ahead of the NFL Draft in April. The visit falls under the NFL allowance that teams can bring 30 out-of-town prospects to their facilities in the days leading up to the draft.
Bell arrives with measurements that separate him even from other linemen. He is listed at 6-foot-9 and 346 pounds, a profile that can change the geometry of the offensive line with sheer length and mass. His arm length—36⅜ inches—adds a wide wingspan that teams can view as a foundational trait for the position.
At this stage, the visit itself is the verifiable development: the pittsburgh steelers are using one of their limited in-person slots on a tackle whose defining characteristics are as pronounced as his evaluation questions. Pre-draft visits do not confirm draft intentions, but they do confirm allocation of time, coaching attention, and medical or background review resources that clubs reserve for prospects they want to understand in detail.
Markel Bell’s college path: rapid rise, major-stage résumé
Bell played two seasons for the Miami Hurricanes. He started five games as a junior and then became the program’s full-time left tackle last fall. His season came with high-visibility context: Miami finished as runner-up for the 2025 CFP national championship, and Bell earned third-team All-ACC honors.
His route to that role began earlier in Mississippi. Bell is a native of Cleveland, Miss., and started his college career at Holmes Community College, where he earned NJCAA All-Region honors in 2023 before moving to Miami.
Those details matter because they frame his evaluation as more than a measurements story. Bell moved from junior college recognition to a full-time left tackle role on a national runner-up, earning conference honors in the process—an ascent that invites teams to ask whether the trajectory is still pointing up, and what technical refinement may still be ahead.
The contradiction in Bell’s profile: rare physical traits, measurable limits
Bell’s combine testing underscored why he can be polarizing. He ran a 5. 36-second 40-yard dash, tying for last among the 39 linemen who ran. That figure is not presented as a definitive judgment on his pro prospects, but it is an objective marker that teams must integrate into their broader assessment—especially when evaluating movement skills and how a tackle holds up in space.
Draft analyst Lance Zierlein of NFL. com summarized the tension in Bell’s profile in a description that places equal weight on upside and constraint: a “Mountainous tackle with rare physical attributes that work both in his favor and against him depending on the situation. ” Zierlein added that “there is no escaping a high center of gravity, ” noting it can affect Bell’s ability to change direction in pass protection and create consistent engagement as a run blocker.
Read together, the testing result and the scouting language point to the same central reality: Bell’s evaluation is not about whether he is big enough, but about how effectively he can manage the trade-offs that come with exceptional height and a high center of gravity. That is the kind of question teams often prefer to explore in person—on a whiteboard, in a meeting room, and through the specific coaching points that determine whether a prospect’s limitations can be coached around.
The Steelers’ decision to host him does not reveal a selection, but it does reveal a priority: getting direct, hands-on clarity about a prospect whose physical profile is rare enough that it can challenge standard grading templates.
