Pittsburgh Steelers: Why do they persist on Le’Veon Bell?
By Erik Lambert
The Pittsburgh Steelers are winning. They have a young running back who is an emerging star in James Conner. So why?
Why won’t they just let Le’Veon Bell walk? There seems to be no further point to continue the standoff on his contract. It’s clear he doesn’t plan to end his holdout. The offense proved on Thursday night they clearly don’t need him, hanging 52 points on the Carolina Panthers with Conner scoring his 11th touchdown of the season. It’s not like the team is going to somehow lure Bell in next offseason now that it’s apparent they don’t need him.
So again. What gives? They could just rescind the tag, let him walk and move forward with an offense that hasn’t missed a beat without him. It’s a weird situation. One has to guess there are some big egos involved. Then again it could be merely a strategic move. Keep this in mind. If the Steelers were to rescind the tag, Bell would be a free agent and able to sign anywhere he wants.
Five of the six teams with the highest salary cap space remaining this year are AFC teams. Two of them are playoff contenders in the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans. Imagine an offense with Bell and Andrew Luck or Bell and Deshaun Watson. Not ideal. It could be a simple case of the Steelers holding his rights hostage for this season so he doesn’t come back to haunt them somewhere else.
ʇuıod ʎɯ pǝʌoɹd ǝʌ’noʎ 'buıʎɐs ɯ’ı ʇɐɥʍ ʇno ǝɹnbıɟ oʇ ǝɯıʇ ǝɥʇ buıpuıɟ ʎןןɐǝɹ ǝɹ’noʎ ɟı osןɐ˙˙˙poıɹǝd 'sɹǝǝd ʎɯ ɟo ʇsǝɹ ǝɥʇ puɐ 'ʎןıɯɐɟ 'ɟןǝsʎɯ ɹoɟ ʇɥbıɹ sı ǝʌǝıןǝq ı ʇɐɥʍ ɹoɟ buızıboןodɐ ʇou ɯ’ı
— Le'Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) November 7, 2018
Bell likely to miss 2018 season and become available in 2019
One of the crazy parts of this entire thing is that Bell’s camp had no idea about a loophole in the contract system. Essentially by sitting out this year, it means the running back could skip the next stage of the franchise tag and go right to quarterback-level money. Estimates are it would cost the Steelers $25 million in 2019 to tag him again. There is no way they’re doing that. They could try to transition tag him and see if they can match any offer another team makes.
That too is unlikely. The odds now heavily favor Bell being in a new uniform come next season. It’s just a matter of finding out where that will be. Having missed this year, he won’t have to worry about wear and tear or injury. Still, he’ll also be getting along in age. So it’s fair to question whether he’ll get the big money he’s been searching for. It only takes one team, but the landscape of running back contracts creates some doubt.