Steelers star has new contract demand after getting tagged again
Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’veon Bell insists he is not in an acrimonious contract dispute with the team.
But after the Steelers announced Tuesday that they will place the franchise tag on Bell for a second consecutive season, Bell said he has no plans on budging from what he believes is a fair value for his talents.
“I don’t think I should settle for anything less than what I’m valued at,” Bell told ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler.
That value, according to Bell, is not a penny less than the nearly $14.54 million he will receive this year under his franchise tag.
Steelers officially tagged RB Le’Veon Bell for a second straight year, this time to the tune of $14.544 million.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 6, 2018
“We’re not coming to a number we both agree on — they are too low, or I guess they feel I’m too high,” Bell said of his attempt at a long-term deal with the team. “I’m playing for strictly my value to the team. That’s what I’m asking.”
The $14.54 million Bell will earn this season would be an increase from the $12.12 million he received last year.
But in the absence of a long-term deal, Bell is not receiving any guaranteed money via a signing bonus, which means if he gets hurt on his first carry of the first game and his career is done, his earnings from the Steelers are limited to what he receives this season.
That’s why Bell told ESPN Monday that he would hold out the entire year rather than sign the franchise tag. Last year, he skipped all of training camp to protest being tagged.
“I just have to decide if I’m going to play when the time comes,” Bell said.
Even though the Steelers have decided to tag Bell as of now, they must make some big decisions.
As Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette explained, the team doesn’t have room under the salary cap for Bell’s $14.54 million franchise tag. In fact, they would be over the cap by more than $9 million, and would have to be under the cap by March 14.
“The Steelers can rescind the tag at any time as long as Bell does not sign, and the cap room would return to them,” Bouchette wrote. “They could, for example, shop in free agency, come to agreements with, say, an inside linebacker and another running back, withdraw the tag from Bell and use that money to sign the two other players.”
The two sides were reportedly close to finalizing a new contract last season that would have paid Bell an average of $13.3 million over the life of the deal.
Bell turned it down because of the lack of guaranteed money.
“I’m the one to bet on myself. And I’ll do it again,” Bell told ESPN. “I understand how the Steelers do contracts. Last year, I was pounding the table on guaranteed money. That’s not the case. If I’m not getting guaranteed money, I want a lot more up front. … It’s year-to-year with the Steelers. Essentially if I sign a four- or five-year deal, I’m playing four or five franchise tags.”
Bell insists the two sides are “a lot closer than last year” in terms of getting a new deal done. But he doesn’t think it’s imminent.
“Unless something drastic changes, it won’t be (this week),” he said.
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