deadline likely to pass without Le'Veon Bell reporting

[Old School]

Sources: Tuesday deadline likely to pass without Le'Veon Bell reporting
Adam Schefter
ESPN Senior Writer


Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell is unlikely to report to the team by Tuesday's deadline, which would make him ineligible to play the rest of this season, multiple league sources tell ESPN.

Even as the Steelers now brace to lose their marquee running back for the entire season, Bell's camp continues to maintain its cone of silence and repeatedly has declined to address with reporters his plans for the coming week.

As the team and its fans await Tuesday's 4 p.m. ET deadline, by which Bell must report or be ineligible to play for the remainder of the season, it is worth remembering what the Pro Bowl back said in January.

Ten months ago, Bell said he "definitely would consider" sitting out the 2018 season or retiring if the Steelers used the franchise tag on him for a second consecutive season. The Steelers did use the tag, and there are no indications that Bell will report by the deadline.

If Le'Veon Bell doesn't report by Tuesday as is expected, his Steelers career would be unofficially over.

By sitting out this season, the 26-year-old Bell ostensibly has been trying to preserve his value and body, allowing James Conner (771 yards on 164 carries and 10 touchdowns) to get the work in the Steelers' backfield. Conner, who averages 4.7 yards per run, is on pace for close to 300 carries, similar to what Bell had last season. It is wear and tear that Bell seemingly did not want to absorb as he gets ready to become a free agent.

Despite Steelers owner Art Rooney telling Sirius XM Radio on Thursday that he expected Bell to report by Tuesday, the running back has skipped every chance he's had to report, including during Pittsburgh's recent bye week, when he could have collected $855,000 just for being on the roster.

Bell did not report hours before the Steelers' Thursday night victory over Carolina, when he could have collected another $855,000 for playing in the game. He has bypassed the chance to make more than $8.5 million and could make only $6 million more if he were to report by Tuesday.

But the reason he has been willing to forgo all of this so far is the reason that multiple people do not expect to see Bell this week, or this season, either. And if Bell doesn't report by Tuesday, which is now the belief, then his Steelers career would be over.

 

[Old School]

:SIB:SIB:SIB:SIB:SIB:SIB:SIB:SIB:SIB:SIB:SIB

 

[53defense]

Gotta be the dumbest hold out in professional sports history

He'll never make up those lost dollars.....

Saves the Steelers 7 mil

As a result of your holdout the Steelers find their future mail carrier

Who is this Agent and advisors that thought it was a good idea?? they should all be drawn n quartered

Listen I'm Irish, so assume I'm a donkey and I have a head of concrete, but this move simply makes nooooo sense

 

[Englishman]

Costs him $14.5MM and he is one year older.

Brilliant strategy.

 

[Penguinfan]

Gotta be the dumbest hold out in professional sports history

He'll never make up those lost dollars.....

Saves the Steelers 7 mil

As a result of your holdout the Steelers find their future mail carrier

Who is this Agent and advisors that thought it was a good idea?? they should all be drawn n quartered

Listen I'm Irish, so assume I'm a donkey and I have a head of concrete, but this move simply makes nooooo sense

You are likely correct he won't make up the $14MM if you compare what he could have got to what he will get, but that $14MM was never his concern. His concern is the $100MM+ he expects to get in his next contract, one he would never get if injured this season playing for the Steelers (or anyone).

I'll just throw out numbers here, but let's say he WOULD have got $14MM this year and $75MM in his next contract for a total of $89MM, if things play out that he now "only" gets the $75MM contract then yes he loses $14MM in the deal, but if he played this year and got the $14MM but got injured along the way (wouldn't be the first of his career) and didn't get the $75MM contract then he's out considerably more.

It's a combination of the way the CBA works and how the Steelers operate that led to the situation being what it is.

If money is all that matters to Lev Bell then this is how he had to play it out because he can't lose this way simply because there is always teams like Dallas, Oakland, New Orleans, NYG, even Cincinnati that will throw money at him. It only take two for there to be a bidding war and he will get the money he wants.

Of course he won't be worth a fucking penny of it because he's shown he's a me first guy that cares absolutely nothing about winning or his team, but that won't stop someone from throwing the checkbook at him. The Browns are desperate to be anything but laughable, the Bengals are desperate to win a playoff game, the Raiders are just plain desperate, someone will pay him, and they will be sorry.

Depending on how much of that next contract is guaranteed my guess is you see him avoiding contact and running out of bounds like no other.

 

[Smitty]

You are likely correct he won't make up the $14MM if you compare what he could have got to what he will get, but that $14MM was never his concern. His concern is the $100MM+ he expects to get in his next contract, one he would never get if injured this season playing for the Steelers (or anyone).

I'll just throw out numbers here, but let's say he WOULD have got $14MM this year and $75MM in his next contract for a total of $89MM, if things play out that he now "only" gets the $75MM contract then yes he loses $14MM in the deal, but if he played this year and got the $14MM but got injured along the way (wouldn't be the first of his career) and didn't get the $75MM contract then he's out considerably more.

why would he expect a $100MM contract, or even $75MM? i know there are a LOT of dumb contracts in professional sports, and LOTS of really dumb NFL owners, but there might not be any THAT dumb (ok, that is a different debate). todd gurley currently has the highest contract for a running back at $57MM, and he's younger than bell. and i think the league is finally figuring out that running backs are fairly interchangeable. and they have short careers. so who would throw that much money at bell?

like most running backs, he has a short window to make his money. and he was going to be paid $14MM this year to play football. at 26, he is right in his prime. all this proved to the steelers was that they don't need him.

he got some terrible advice.

on the bright side, this opened the door for james conner, who is one of the best stories in the nfl. so for that, le'veon, i thank you. :0008

all that said, of course some dumbass is going to pay him way too much money next year. but not enough to make the $14MM irrelevant.

 

[Old School]

he will be filthy rich very soon..........

and he exposed the loophole in the tag for everyone except QB's

great write up Penguinfan :0074

NFL owners always chasing that SB

 

[Penguinfan]

why would he expect a $100MM contract, or even $75MM? i know there are a LOT of dumb contracts in professional sports, and LOTS of really dumb NFL owners, but there might not be any THAT dumb (ok, that is a different debate). todd gurley currently has the highest contract for a running back at $57MM, and he's younger than bell. and i think the league is finally figuring out that running backs are fairly interchangeable. and they have short careers. so who would throw that much money at bell?

like most running backs, he has a short window to make his money. and he was going to be paid $14MM this year to play football. at 26, he is right in his prime. all this proved to the steelers was that they don't need him.

he got some terrible advice.

on the bright side, this opened the door for james conner, who is one of the best stories in the nfl. so for that, le'veon, i thank you. :0008

all that said, of course some dumbass is going to pay him way too much money next year. but not enough to make the $14MM irrelevant.

I could be off on the number, but I remember him wanting 5+ years at $16MM+ per year. My math isn't stellar, but that's $80MM minimum, and he will likely get it because, as I said, Oakland, Dallas, NYG, etc... still exist.

 

[Penguinfan]

he will be filthy rich very soon..........

and he exposed the loophole in the tag for everyone except QB's

great write up Penguinfan :0074

NFL owners always chasing that SB

Thanks and yep, he'll get a shit ton and I have no problem that it's somewhere else. In an already diseased locker room that guy would turn it into terminal cancer if he came back this year. My genuine hope is he doesn't, fuck him.

If the Steelers spend that $14MM like this:

10% on a clock management coach for Ben and Tomlin
90% on a defensive secondary that doesn't suck

we are instantly a contender.

 

[Old School]

You are likely correct he won't make up the $14MM if you compare what he could have got to what he will get, but that $14MM was never his concern. His concern is the $100MM+ he expects to get in his next contract, one he would never get if injured this season playing for the Steelers (or anyone).

I'll just throw out numbers here, but let's say he WOULD have got $14MM this year and $75MM in his next contract for a total of $89MM, if things play out that he now "only" gets the $75MM contract then yes he loses $14MM in the deal, but if he played this year and got the $14MM but got injured along the way (wouldn't be the first of his career) and didn't get the $75MM contract then he's out considerably more.

It's a combination of the way the CBA works and how the Steelers operate that led to the situation being what it is.

If money is all that matters to Lev Bell then this is how he had to play it out because he can't lose this way simply because there is always teams like Dallas, Oakland, New Orleans, NYG, even Cincinnati that will throw money at him. It only take two for there to be a bidding war and he will get the money he wants.

Of course he won't be worth a fucking penny of it because he's shown he's a me first guy that cares absolutely nothing about winning or his team, but that won't stop someone from throwing the checkbook at him. The Browns are desperate to be anything but laughable, the Bengals are desperate to win a playoff game, the Raiders are just plain desperate, someone will pay him, and they will be sorry.

Depending on how much of that next contract is guaranteed my guess is you see him avoiding contact and running out of bounds like no other.

Le'Veon Bell bet on himself, and lost big

Jesse Reed, Sportsnaut

<time data-always-show="true" datetime="2019-03-13T04:44:24.000Z" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">15 hrs ago

</time>​

The NFL does not value running backs the same way it values other premier positions. Especially not running backs who have plenty of wear and tear on their bodies. That?s something Le?Veon Bell found out the hard way.

After sitting out the entire 2018 season, losing out on $14.4 million in guaranteed money, Bell reportedly agreed to a four-year deal with the New York Jets worth $52.5 million.

That?s a lot of money to be sure. Yet it doesn?t come close to what Bell was hoping to get, and had been pushing for going all the way back to 2017.

Meanwhile, his old teammate Antonio Brown will reportedly earn more than $19 million per year in Oakland after a winter of talking trash about Pittsburgh.

Even worse for Bell, he reportedly turned down a massive five-year deal from Pittsburgh last summer worth $70 million. Reportedly, it would have earned working roughly $20 million in 2019 and and included roughly $33 million in the first two years.

Bell was hoping to break the mold. He wanted to create a new market for NFL running backs and assert his power as a superstar in this league. Yet when it was all said and done, he ended up taking less than he could have gotten a year earlier.

Adding insult to injury, this occurred in a year when other free agents who aren?t at the top of their position are landing record deals left and right.

The big issue, of course, is what we mentioned at the top: Bell is a 27-year-old running back. And in the NFL, you can find incredibly productive running backs in all rounds of the draft, and they come cheap.

In the end, Bell lost more than just $14.4 million, and any additional money he might have gotten from Pittsburgh in a long-term deal. He lost the battle against the machine that is the NFL, proving once and for all that running backs will continue to be viewed as second-tier citizens in the realm of financial priorities.