Le’Veon Bell‘s usage rate over the past two seasons has dwarfed every other running back’s, making it somewhat curious the 26-year-old All-Pro would chance trying to go through another high-volume season without a long-term contract.
He may not be. Bell’s agent, Adisa Bakari, said in a Sirius XM interview Wednesday (via Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) Bell is interested in making it to the 2019 free agent market without the wear and tear of another 400-touch season.
“I’m not going to discuss our plan publicly, but if you’re Kevin Colbert and you’re Mike Tomlin, and you have a once-in-a-generation type of player for one more season, what would your plan be? You can read in between those lines,” Bakari said.
Bakari’s likely hinting at the presumed plan of the Steelers running their workhorse back ragged, with his presumptive Pittsburgh departure coming in March. That said, Bell put himself in this position by not agreeing to a deal at the franchise tag deadline.
Bell led the NFL with 406 touches last season and paced the league in 2016 on a per-game basis, averaging 28 in his 12-game season — nearly five more touches per game than David Johnson, second in this category, racked up that year. However, it’s unclear how Bell and Bakari plan to coax the Steelers into limiting the sixth-year back’s workload this season if/when he returns. This sets up conflicting agendas for a team that’s running out of time in its hopes to win a Super Bowl with its historically dominant skill-position duo of Bell and Antonio Brown.
Bell said after another tag deadline came and went without a deal that he would report to the Steelers before Week 1 “unless something exceptional happens.” Bakari said today “something exceptional” has occurred. It’s unclear what, in fact, has transpired. But Bell remains estranged from his team as the league’s last holdout. Mike Tomlin said (via ohio.com’s Nate Ulrich, on Twitter) he’d cross the Bell-usage bridge when that became relevant.
Nevertheless, Bakari said the Bell camp remains intent on making this a dominant season.
“I said Le’Veon has every intention to make this the best season of his career. That has not changed,” the agent said (via Aditi Kinkhabwala of NFL.com, on Twitter). “That’s his intention, to make this the best statistical season of his career.”
The Steeler back can hold out until Week 10 before a November 13 deadline looms regarding his playing status in 2018, but he would lose $853K for every week he misses. Having accumulated 1,229 carries through five years, Bell would be an unusual free agent hoping to cash in. Teams could well view him as a diminished commodity as a free agent, which would hurt his chances of signing for Todd Gurley-type money.
Go please go far far away! Steelers should have traded him last year!
Sorry your team is trying to abuse a system that allows them to pay a player below market value. But the player isnt wrong for using his leverage to force the team’s hand…
And before you go off with the tired argument about how the Steelers are paying him millions – you need to realize that the market says he’s worth more than that, tens of millions of dollars more. You wouldn’t go to work for $100,000 if your work was worth $500,000. Why should an athlete go to work for $15 million when they’re worth $50 million?
If the Steelers don’t want to pay him, fine. Let another team do it. But you’re seeing this hard line stance from Pitt because they know they have zero chance of winning a SB without him. The division, yes. But mainly because it’s a garbage division.
So the Steelers will take their chances that he eventually reports- the later the better- and that his holdout makes him that much fresher in the playoffs.
Exactly he even gave them a year under the franchise tag something Von Miller, Aaron Donald and Mack weren’t willing to do. Yet no one was ripping those guys. Bell gave them 4 years on a rookie contract and 1 tag season. They want to burn out his prime without giving him a guaranteed payday. Their offer was horrible for Bell. Basically said “ok give us 2 more good years and you’ll get the majority of the money. Otherwise get cut after year 2”.
That’s how NFL contracts work, do you come and complain for teams that pay those players and they under perform? Do you fight for the teams right to get back some of the money they paid this guy?
Most of the time its not high profile guys getting the deals that fail. Brock Osweiler got more guarenteed than what PIT offered Bell. That pretty much sums it up well.
You completely dodge my question as I never said it had to be a high profile player. Do you fight for teams to get money back when they don’t live up to their contract? And you can’t compare a QB to RB. You are arguing about the fairness of a policy that was agreed to by the NFLPA. The players themselves. I don’t know what you want from the Steelers. He’s the highest paid back this year. Because they didn’t sign him long term and offer him x amount of guaranteed money makes them bad? Seriously the most ridiculous posts I’ve seen in a while
Your really pretending 1 year of security is worth it for a guy who has been a top RB fpr 5 seasons lol. Do you know what a hold put is? Its because you dont agree with the rules.
I never said it was. But under the current rules of the NFL he plays under the tag or he sits out and gives the Steelers the right to fine him 850k for every game. I totally believe Bell should be paid as the #1 back in the league. And some team will pay that next season. You act like the Steelers are going something wrong. And there have been plenty of players who played under the tag. PS: Donald was not under the tag
Justinept the inept portion is perfect. First he’s the highest paid running back this year and two the tag value isn’t determined by the Steelers. And you trying to say he is using leverage is absolutely bogus. He sits out he doesn’t get paid unless the Steelers decide to pay him. Your whole argument is lacking of facts and absurd.
Wow. Great dig.
1- Yearly salary means nothing. Guaranteed money is what matters. Gurley just got $45 million guaranteed. Bell is better and more proven. The Steelers want him for $14.75 million guaranteed. So when I say he’s worth tens of millions of dollars more, it has zero to do with his potential 2018 salary.
The tag isn’t determined by the Steelers. It’s a part of the system that allows teams to keep players without committing longterm guaranteed money. The Steelers are taking advantage of this- just like I said.
The Steelers won’t pay him until he reports. I never said they would. I said he’d be smart to report at the 11th hour, which I believe is week 10. At that point, the season counts as his franchise tag year. If the Steelers want to keep him, they’d have to franchise him a third time or sign him long term. And if they do neither, then Bell can hit FA without having to go through another 450 touch season (which is an absolutely absurd number that no team would ever give a player unless they didn’t care about his long term value.)
As for Bell’s leverage… withholding services is the only leverage players have in these matters. This isn’t even my opinion- it’s common and accepted opinion. Donald withheld his services in order to get a new deal. It worked. Same with Mack. In both matters, every friggin analyst referred to them holding out as “the player using their only leverage.” Criticizing a common thought like that just shows me you don’t actually pay attention.
But hey – nice dig.
You are absolutely right. Bell is worth tens of millions of dollars and he will probably get it next season. But to say the Steelers are taking advantage of a rule that was agreed upon by players and owners makes you seem petty and almost just biased. Your ignorant comment about how many touches Bell had only furthers that. Did you ever prior to today hear a complaint? And if the Steelers the vindictive franchise they are really wants to ruin him they can franchise him again next year.
Eh. Bell knows how the NFL contracts work. If he wants to do it, fine, it’s his choice. But let’s not act like it’s JUST the Steelers who are at fault here.
EXACTLY!
Taking advantage of a rule doesn’t imply someone is doing something wrong. Don’t conflate that phrase with circumventing the rules or finding loopholes. It’s the rule. They’re taking advantage of it.
Without the rule, Bell is making tens of millions of dollars more. With it, he’s not. Does it make the Steelers the villain? No. I ever said they were.
But neither is Bell the villain. He has an offer on the table for less than he thinks he’s worth. He’s not signing it. Too many posters on this topic seem to think that makes him the villain.
As for his workload- there was talk about it all last year. He had 450 touches. It was obvious then that they were willing to run the guy into the ground because they don’t care about his long term future.
I agree with steelman. He’s a headcase and he’s already been suspended. Cut the cord & rescind the tag. Let someone else over pay him while wrecking their salary cap & locker room. Think about this – Mack got traded & there were plenty of rumors and a list of suitors bidding for a great player. Why hasn’t there been any national rumors about other teams wanting Bell? The Steelers can always sign & trade him. Then he can get an extension with the new team. But unlike with Mack, apparently none of the other teams seem willing to give up something for him. And when the reply to that is someone will just wait till he’s a free agent next year & pay him without giving up picks/players, the other teams could have done that with Mack too. No doubt there will be a team to offer him big money next year but like most contracts, he’ll never live up to the money & term involved.
I hope the NFL will be inspired to go to a soft cap in the future, given the bad press that comes from these holdout situations that seemingly don’t happen in the NBA and MLB. I get that the hard cap promotes parity, but it’s coming at a significant cost of bad press for both players and ownership. A soft cap with luxury tax penalties would go a long way to reducing these types of situations.
For all the “parity” that a hard cap supposedly promotes, baseball has no cap, the highest turn over rate among playoff teams, and has not had a repeat winner since the yankees in 2000, while every other of the big 4 sports in the US, have had a lower percentage of turn over and both the nfl and nba have both have multiple repeat champs since 2000
Unrelated note but I’m a big fan of your username
hahahaha thanks! I appreciate that! I was quite proud of myself for coming up with it.
This is ridiculous. Did the Steelers tell Le’Veon to get suspended multiple times and to decide to spend his career playing the position with a small shelf life. How many running backs in the history of the league will have made as much in their careers as Le’Veon the last 2 seasons? Don’t blame Todd Gurley for being younger
Steelers should take the tag away and not let him sign it. Bell needs to lose 14 million since he can’t be honest with management or his teammates
He’s lead the league in touches once and has played 16 games once. He has a 4.3ypc for his career and is coming off a year at 4.0ypc. He’s a lot more replaceable than he thinks.