Steelers star being paid $14.5M could sit out regular season over contract -- report
For Le’Veon Bell, being the highest-paid running back in football is apparently not enough.
The Steelers star may sit out the 2018 season if he can’t get a long-term deal done with the team, according to a report by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Whoa.
"I think it's possible Le'Veon Bell sits out first half of the year if he doesn't get a long term deal done." –@AdamSchefter on @SiriusXMNFL.
"The goal at that point would be to hit 2019 free agency healthy, not rack up another 400 touches."
— Ross Tucker (@RossTuckerNFL) July 16, 2018
Schefter said on SirusXM NFL Radio Monday that if Bell believes he can get a long-term deal as an unrestricted free agent next season, he’ll skip games with Pittsburgh this season to reduce his risk for injury
Four players currently on the franchise tag are agitating for longer deals, but it appears only Bell is threatening to actually miss time over it.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network says it’s a “long shot” that the Steelers and Bell will arrive at a figure that works for both sides.
The curious thing here is that Bell is, by the standards of the modern NFL running back market, grotesquely overpaid.
With the league almost never paying running backs more than $10 million, never mind nearly $15 million, Bell is trying to make the case that his talents are so singularly unique as to make his worth over a buck and a half on the dollar compared to the rest of the league.
What’s more, in an era where most teams find value in rookie contracts for draft picks as the wide-open passing game takes preference over the run, paying a guy like Bell $14.5 million is taking money that could be used at any of Pittsburgh’s weak points on a 53-man roster.
Bell is reportedly not mad about the number on the base salary sheet — Pittsburgh’s long-term offer is said to be in that same $14.5 million ballpark — but rather the lack of guaranteed money.
The Steelers rarely guarantee money beyond two or three years, even for their stars.
And with Bell, who could get hurt at any moment after carrying the ball a league-high 321 times last season, the injury risk is heavy on the minds of Steelers negotiators.
Meanwhile, on Bell’s side, getting to free agency with his knees and hamstrings intact is itself a major incentive for making sure he secures his future before he risks his hide.
After all, if he gets hurt this year, he’s up $14.5 million for one season and out no less than $29 million thereafter (the value of a two-year guaranteed deal at his current salary that Pittsburgh would likely readily agree to), not exactly buying low and selling high.
Bell skipped training camp workouts last season, but detente was eventually achieved between player and team.
It seems likely that the same thing will happen this year.
Bell would do well to remember that running backs are rarely taken so high in the draft that the Steelers, even if they win the Super Bowl, could still find a pretty good — and pretty cheap — replacement for their squabbling superstar in the offseason.
Buying high and selling low is bad, but buying high and shipping the product to the junkyard for scrap is worse.
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