A $100 million contract for Bell would infuriate most, but should it? Hear me out...

[feltdizz]

That is certainly my HOPE.



You miss entirely the benefit of letting him go. Money available to sign a good back, sign another defender AND draft defense.

Or sign a "top" defender and draft a back high (my preference).

Bottom line you have MORE resources to address defense not less by letting Bell go.

Only problem is we have already missed out on possible options.

wait, I don't get this logic.

Unless you want to make another splash signing in FA next year or 2 I really fail to see how we can't just draft defense, defense and more defense. They won't be expensive on their first contract.

You want to draft ANOTHER RB instead of a player on defense?

I think we will be able to retain all the play makers on D next year AND upgrade the D while trimming the fat on D with guys who aren't really cutting it.

You make it sound like a big FA signing is our key to success on D and that's not how we usually operate.

Who do you want to sign in FA this year? More than likely we can draft D this year and then cut a few players and get another defender on D. Their first year cap hit wouldn't be that high and we could structure it where we could release them if they didn't pan out this year.

[Steel Maniac]

I"m hopeful that after the draft, after some vets get unexpectedly let go, we can do one more move or two. Nothing extravagant of course. Just some depth stuff.

[Captain Lemming]

Dizz, your point is why I said:

Only problem is we have already missed out on possible options.

At this point having missed top defensive free agents and committed to lesser ones it may be too late. We acted in a way that presupposes Bell will be on the team this year.

Nevertheless, my comments remain a valid reason to not make that commitment long term.

We sign Bell for a season, see how any additions as well as our young players are doing, and go all in come next year's free agency.

[williar]

interesting idea.

I really think we want to keep Bell and I think tweaking numbers on paper makes sense.

IMO the whole “twice as much” as the next RB is a terrible argument when you look at what Bell brings to our offense.

I think the NFL has gotten away with robbery when it comes to the RB position.

Run the ball 20 times a game, catch it another 5 times.. oh, and split out wide a few times... by the way, remember to block these huge LB and DL’s running free too.

But it lets pay you 8 mill a year while giving WR’s 17 mill a year to catch it 7 to 9 balls a game.

I totally agree with this without saying much more!

[Steel Maniac]

Dizz, your point is why I said:

At this point having missed top defensive free agents and committed to lesser ones it may be too late. We acted in a way that presupposes Bell will be on the team this year.

Nevertheless, my comments remain a valid reason to not make that commitment long term.

We sign Bell for a season, see how any additions as well as our young players are doing, and go all in come next year's free agency.

Your right about what the moves insinuate. But things can change drastically. Case in point..

1. We draft Guice; Bell misses camp while Guice is there and gets in work.
2. Guice gets the start game 1 while Bell is still getting in shape because of coming late to camp.
3. Guice lights it up the first two games (we win both games; 2-0) and Tomlin/Colbert are reluctant to take him out of the starting lineup.
4. Bell is traded to some team (most likely a bottom feeder team with tons of cap space) and we get a 2019 first round pick and a player we can use defensively.

Things can change but your right; right now it looks like we are planing for Bell to be here the entire season.

[SteelerOfDeVille]

Yeah, that was the response I expected.

But are these cap hits totally unreasonable considering that we were willing to pay him $12M in 2017 and $14.5M in 2018?

$11.5M cap hit in 2018 at age 26
$12.5M cap hit in 2019 at age 27
$13.5M cap hit in 2020 at age 28
$14.5M cap hit in 2021 at age 29
Cut Bell after 4 seasons before he turns 30 with post June 1 designation.
$4M dead money cap hit in 2022
$4M dead money cap hit in 2023

And he gets to brag about resetting the RB market with a huge $102M deal that averages $17M season, while pocketing $60M in real money over the next 4 seasons (the $15M per year he rapped about) while finishing his 9 year career as a Steeler having earned $76 million total (his rookie deal plus last year's $12M and this new $60M).

Personally like it...

[Northern_Blitz]

Dizz, your point is why I said:

At this point having missed top defensive free agents and committed to lesser ones it may be too late. We acted in a way that presupposes Bell will be on the team this year.

Nevertheless, my comments remain a valid reason to not make that commitment long term.

We sign Bell for a season, see how any additions as well as our young players are doing, and go all in come next year's free agency.

This. I think we missed the window this year. I think that the best way forward (and also what I expect to happen) is to have Bell tagged and let him walk next year.

Then, we should have a bunch of flexibility next year with Bell and Shazier coming off the books. That money could be used to sign a legit big name UFA (maybe at Kevin Greene like OLB signing if Bud doesn't have a good year and we don't draft an edge early this year) + an above avg RB.

Or, it just gives us a year where we don't kick salary down the road. That might make the turnaround easier after Ben leaves. I'd personally rather load up in the next few years and tank for a few years after Ben goes (to try to get another franchise QB), but I don't think that's in the Steelers DNA.

[Oviedo]

Personally like it...

Like I said in my post, its a "win win"

[feltdizz]

Dizz, your point is why I said:

At this point having missed top defensive free agents and committed to lesser ones it may be too late. We acted in a way that presupposes Bell will be on the team this year.

Nevertheless, my comments remain a valid reason to not make that commitment long term.

We sign Bell for a season, see how any additions as well as our young players are doing, and go all in come next year's free agency.

but look around the league. No one is signing these safeties like Vaccaro or Boston. Why is that?

IMO it's not how we do business in FA. Sure, if a gem gets released AFTER the draft, maybe we make a move but we aren't first day players AND even with Bell on the roster we can structure a contract to get anyone within reason that we really want.

I just don't buy this hand tying some are suggesting if we pay Bell long term.

I'm also not a big fan of going all in on FA to build your team. What are we the Redskins now? No, draft players and keep drafting players and add depth or 1 key FA if it makes sense.

You guys act like all of our FA signings work out and that's not the case.

[feltdizz]

This. I think we missed the window this year. I think that the best way forward (and also what I expect to happen) is to have Bell tagged and let him walk next year.

Then, we should have a bunch of flexibility next year with Bell and Shazier coming off the books. That money could be used to sign a legit big name UFA (maybe at Kevin Greene like OLB signing if Bud doesn't have a good year and we don't draft an edge early this year) + an above avg RB.

Or, it just gives us a year where we don't kick salary down the road. That might make the turnaround easier after Ben leaves. I'd personally rather load up in the next few years and tank for a few years after Ben goes (to try to get another franchise QB), but I don't think that's in the Steelers DNA.

yeah, we aren't the tanking type of team and thank goodness for that.

I also think Watt turns the corner, Dupree has a year to show if he is worth keeping AND we will also draft another OLB because it's what we do.

However, I think you guys are getting a little FA happy because of Haden. That's not the norm. Burnett and Bostic may very well be our Greene and Farrior type of FA's that sure up the D.

I'm all about the draft. We tend to do really well when drafting (except for Jones). Not sure why everyone is FA happy all of a sudden. That's a great way to eat up cap space. Definitely not a fan of this big name FA movement.

[Northern_Blitz]

yeah, we aren't the tanking type of team and thank goodness for that.

Felt, I thought that you were on team tank with me. I thought that I read that part of the reason you were on board with giving Bell the huge contract was to load up while Ben is here. I think that the other side of those types of decisions is usually that we'd be bad (and with a bunch of dead money) after the window closes.

[SteelerOfDeVille]

Like I said in my post, its a "win win"

agree completely. it gets him through the rest of Ben's career, and gives the team a chance to restock the cupboard around the time where the triplets are all on the downside (if not retiring).

[feltdizz]

Felt, I thought that you were on team tank with me. I thought that I read that part of the reason you were on board with giving Bell the huge contract was to load up while Ben is here. I think that the other side of those types of decisions is usually that we'd be bad (and with a bunch of dead money) after the window closes.

I'm on board with the first part..

and wouldn't mind the second part if it happens naturally but I wouldn't want us to try and tank on purpose.

I still think our definition of tanking is 6-10.. lol

but I would never want to see a team that is totally trash like Cleveland playing at Heinz field.

I could see us being strong on D and pretty average on offense once Ben retires. However, i could just as well see us 9-7 due to the way our FO operates. I think we can go all in and still be respectable once Ben is done.

[Shawn]

After Ben retires, I'm all for an 0-16 season...unless we grab Action Jackson in this years draft.

[Steel Maniac]

After Ben retires, I'm all for an 0-16 season...unless we grab Action Jackson in this years draft.

More like inaccurate Jackson. LOL