Bells Deal will it get Done?

[Slapstick]

Contract pending, unwilling to settle for less.......best insurance pot is in his past.

One would hope...

[Sword]

Dude was a second round draft pick coming off his rookie deal, so he has not earned the type of wealth that can potentially impact multiple generations of his family yet. His original signing bonus was $1,376,800, and his base salaries for the last 4 years were $405,000, $495,000, $687,882, and $853,147. And since he plays RB, he knows that he has short amount of time before his body breaks down, so he must maximize his earning potential now.

We aren't talking about a Tom Brady, who can take a discount to help his team's cap since he already has made $180 million, plus is married to a supermodel who has already made $360 million, and he is able to play in the NFL beyond age 40 (while RB's are lucky if they are able to make it past 30).

Are you forgetting his suspensions, missed games, injuries, cost to the Steelers... he needed to not be greedy ....

[Sword]

How does his "legacy" get better by signing a long term deal with a team that has a QB who is talking retirement?

Talk means nothing except people who are sucked into it.....Ben is a competitor he will not retire for 3 or 4 years from now at least ....

[RuthlessBurgher]

Are you forgetting his suspensions, missed games, injuries, cost to the Steelers... he needed to not be greedy ....

You stated that many players take pay cuts to stay on the team and help the team (a team player).

I tried to explain why Bell, coming off his rookie contract as a 2nd round pick, is not at that place in his career.

The second contract for a RB is most likely the only big payday he will ever get, so he is justified in trying to maximize it.

Bell choosing to gamble on himself on a year-to-year basis is a pretty damn good deterrent to avoid potential future suspensions. If he was worried about missing more games due to injury, he would have taken the security of a long term deal with more than just $12.1M guaranteed.

[feltdizz]

Are you forgetting his suspensions, missed games, injuries, cost to the Steelers... he needed to not be greedy ....

How can anyone forget it? Every other post is someone reminding us of his missed games.

Steelers still gave him the tag for $12.1 mill because they know how valuable he is to this offense.

[Sword]

How can anyone forget it? Every other post is someone reminding us of his missed games.

Steelers still gave him the tag for $12.1 mill because they know how valuable he is to this offense.

He has yet to prove anything since him hiding his groan injury and then having to have surgery...very difficult to come back and preform after this type of injury......

[SteelerOfDeVille]

How can anyone forget it? Every other post is someone reminding us of his missed games.

Steelers still gave him the tag for $12.1 mill because they know how valuable he is to this offense.

maybe if he'd play all 16 games, he'd be worth $16 million instead of $12.... $1million per game is kind of a big deal, but, as his rate of absence, it's looking closer to $1.5 than $1...

[RuthlessBurgher]

GM says it's 'beneficial' for Le'Veon Bell to join Steelers camp

4:47 PM ET

Jeremy Fowler
ESPN Staff Writer

LATROBE, Pa. -- The Pittsburgh Steelers do not know when running back Le'Veon Bell will show up, but they are still counting on him to have a big year, general manager Kevin Colbert said Wednesday.

Asked whether the Steelers have considered rescinding Bell's $12.1 million franchise tender, Colbert told ESPN the Steelers will work with who's available. Still, he said, "I fully expect Le'Veon Bell to be a significant contributor for the 2017 Steelers. That's as simple as I can state it."

Both sides couldn't reach a long-term contract before the deadline to do so passed, and because Bell isn't under contract, he's training in South Florida instead of at Saint Vincent College for training camp. All signs point to a late August return for Bell, whose Steelers will play the first-string offense Aug. 26 against the Indianapolis Colts.

When asked about the belief that Bell can stay fresh and injury free away from the team, Colbert stressed, "It's beneficial for everybody to be in camp.

"I'll argue that consistently," Colbert said. "Training camp is important for the growth and preparedness to be ready to play this game opening week. We can argue about camp and preseason, how many games and all that, but I do know you need to practice this game to play it at the highest level. Someone once said it would be like boxing without sparring. You can't just show up and play."

Bell can't be fined for his absence from training camp because he doesn't have a signed contract. He isn't permitted to receive a long-term contract this season because the deadline to do so for tagged players passed on July 17.

Bell is one of the game's best playmakers but plays in a positional market that appears tapped out at around $8 million per year. Colbert said the Steelers don't "box anybody" when it comes to positional marketplaces and place values on players based on what they do for the team. But the Steelers can't revisit that process with Bell until after the season.

"Right now we're worried about 2017; that's all we can focus on," Colbert said. "We've said it in the past -- we want Le'Veon to have a great NFL career as a Pittsburgh Steeler. That hasn't changed. In reality, all we're dealing with is 2017."

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/20361456/gm-kevin-colbert-says-beneficial-leveon-bell-join-pittsburgh-steelers-camp

[RuthlessBurgher]

By Mike Florio
August 17, 2017, 7:32 PM EDT
Art Rooney hopes Le’Veon Bell shows up next week

With Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell exercising his right to not accept the franchise tender after the Steelers exercised their right to apply it, it remains to be seen when Bell will show up and sign it. He can wait until only days before the regular-season opener, sign the tender, and get the full $12.1 million for 2017 — regardless of whether he’s in the best possible condition to earn the money from the get-go.

For that reason, the team’s owner expressed hope on Thursday that Bell will show up sooner than later.

“To be honest, I would hope that it’s next week to give himself two weeks to get acclimated,” Art Rooney II told Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I don’t think it’s been a distraction to the team, so it’s really a matter of him getting here to get acclimated to being in pads, working with his teammates. There are advantages to be here practicing with your team.”

Even if Bell doesn’t show up next week, Rooney anticipates that Bell won’t give up game checks by skipping Week One, or more.

“He has not given any indication to anybody that he plans to hold out into the season,” Rooney said. “I hope and anticipate it will be resolved before the regular season starts.”

That last quote implies that, no matter what, the Steelers won’t be rescinding the tender and making Bell a free agent at a time when the depth charts will be set — and the budgets have been spent — throughout the league.

Bell could, in theory, show up as late as the Tuesday after Week 10, finish out the year, and receive full credit for the contract year, forcing the Steelers to decide whether to apply a 20-percent raise over the franchise tender for 2018 or to let him hit the open market. He also could sit out the entire season. Under that approach, the Steelers wouldn’t be able to use the exclusive tag again in 2018, and the compensation if he signs with another team would be a first-round pick and a third-round pick.

There’s no reason at this point to think Bell is doing anything other than withholding services at a time when he loses nothing by doing so. If he shows up by Week One, he still gets the full $12.1 million — unless the Steelers catch a wild hair over the next couple of weeks and yank it.