LeVeon Bell and the Steelers weren’t able to agree on a long-term contract. He’ll have to play under the one-year franchise tender this season, and his agent says he believes it will be his last year in Pittsburgh.
“His intention was to retire as a Steeler,” Bell’s agent, Adisa Bakari, told Adam Schefter. “But now that there's no deal, the practical reality is, this now likely will Le’Veon’s last season as a Steeler.”
Bell has gotten caught up in a loophole of the system. Most of the other teams in the league have opted to go cheap at the running back position, so there haven’t been other large contracts to drive up his value. Two years in a row the Steelers have protected him with the franchise tag, and two years in a row the two sides have been unable to agree on a long-term deal.
With limited high-value running backs in the league, the franchise tag was only $10.9 million in 2017 and $11.3 million this year. (That’s the average of the top 5 running backs.) Bell’s one-year deal is worth slightly more ($14.5 million) because players are guaranteed a 20 percent raise.
"It became clear the Steelers wanted to pay the position, not the player," Bakari said.
Bell isn’t pleased, but he at least has the Kirk Cousins dynamic working in his favor. With the 20 percent rule, he’ll be guaranteed at least $17.5 million if Pittsburgh tries to tag him again.
The Steelers could be looking to transition to another back in 2019. James Conner, perhaps. But if Bell can make it through this season without a significant injury, he should command plenty on the open market. He’s posted big numbers, but he’s also still only 26 years old (27 in February).
Bell has had some issues with injuries. He’s gotten hurt most years. He’s also been suspended by the league. But when healthy, he’s been pretty dynamic. In three of the last four years, he’s averaged at least 23 points per game in PPR scoring. Only two other backs in the last four years have hit that level, and they’ve each done it only once (David Johnson and Todd Gurley).
| RUNNING BACKS, PPR PER GAME (2014-2017) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | St | No | Run | Rec | Total | TD | Pts |
| 2016 | LeVeon Bell, Pitt. | 12 | 6.3 | 106 | 51 | 157 | .75 | 26.5 |
| 2017 | Todd Gurley, LAR | 15 | 4.3 | 87 | 53 | 140 | 1.27 | 25.8 |
| 2016 | David Johnson, Ariz. | 16 | 5.0 | 77 | 55 | 132 | 1.25 | 25.7 |
| 2014 | LeVeon Bell, Pitt. | 16 | 5.2 | 85 | 53 | 138 | .69 | 23.2 |
| 2017 | LeVeon Bell, Pitt. | 15 | 5.7 | 86 | 44 | 130 | .73 | 23.0 |
| 2015 | Devonta Freeman, Atl. | 13 | 5.1 | 78 | 40 | 118 | 1.00 | 22.8 |
| 2014 | DeMarco Murray, Dall. | 16 | 3.6 | 115 | 26 | 141 | .81 | 22.6 |
| 2017 | Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 13 | 5.5 | 52 | 58 | 109 | 1.00 | 22.4 |
| 2016 | Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 15 | 2.1 | 109 | 24 | 133 | 1.07 | 21.8 |
| 2014 | Matt Forte, Chi. | 16 | 6.4 | 65 | 51 | 115 | .63 | 21.7 |
| 2015 | DeAngelo Williams, Pitt. | 10 | 3.5 | 80 | 32 | 112 | 1.10 | 21.3 |
| 2014 | Arian Foster, Hou. | 13 | 2.9 | 96 | 25 | 121 | 1.00 | 21.0 |
| 2017 | Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 10 | 2.6 | 98 | 27 | 125 | .90 | 20.5 |
| 2016 | LeSean McCoy, Buff. | 15 | 3.3 | 84 | 24 | 108 | .93 | 19.8 |
| 2016 | Melvin Gordon, S.D. | 13 | 3.2 | 77 | 32 | 109 | .92 | 19.6 |
| 2017 | Kareem Hunt, K.C. | 15 | 3.5 | 86 | 30 | 116 | .67 | 19.2 |
| 2014 | Marshawn Lynch, Sea. | 16 | 2.3 | 82 | 23 | 105 | 1.06 | 19.1 |
| 2016 | DeMarco Murray, Tenn. | 16 | 3.3 | 80 | 24 | 104 | .75 | 18.2 |
| 2017 | Melvin Gordon, LAC | 16 | 3.6 | 69 | 30 | 99 | .75 | 18.0 |
| 2016 | Devonta Freeman, Atl. | 16 | 3.4 | 67 | 29 | 96 | .81 | 17.9 |
| 2017 | Mark Ingram, N.O. | 16 | 3.6 | 70 | 26 | 96 | .75 | 17.8 |
| 2017 | Leonard Fournette, Jac. | 13 | 2.8 | 80 | 23 | 103 | .77 | 17.7 |
| 2015 | Todd Gurley, St.L. | 12 | 1.7 | 91 | 15 | 107 | .83 | 17.3 |
| 2014 | Eddie Lacy, G.B. | 16 | 2.6 | 71 | 27 | 98 | .81 | 17.3 |
| 2014 | Jamaal Charles, K.C. | 15 | 2.7 | 69 | 19 | 88 | .93 | 17.1 |
| 2015 | Mark Ingram, N.O. | 12 | 4.2 | 64 | 34 | 98 | .50 | 17.0 |
| 2014 | Jeremy Hill, Cin. | 9 | 1.6 | 103 | 9 | 113 | .67 | 16.8 |
| 2015 | Adrian Peterson, Minn. | 16 | 1.9 | 93 | 14 | 107 | .69 | 16.7 |
| 2017 | LeSean McCoy, Buff. | 16 | 3.7 | 71 | 28 | 99 | .50 | 16.6 |
| 2015 | Matt Forte, Chi. | 13 | 3.4 | 69 | 30 | 99 | .54 | 16.5 |
| 2016 | Jordan Howard, Chi. | 13 | 1.8 | 96 | 19 | 114 | .54 | 16.4 |
| 2016 | Theo Riddick, Det. | 10 | 5.3 | 36 | 37 | 73 | .60 | 16.2 |
| 2017 | Dion Lewis, N.E. | 11 | 2.3 | 72 | 16 | 88 | .82 | 16.0 |
| 2014 | Matt Asiata, Minn. | 9 | 3.3 | 57 | 23 | 80 | .78 | 16.0 |
| 2014 | Ahmad Bradshaw, Ind. | 10 | 3.8 | 43 | 30 | 73 | .80 | 15.9 |
| 2017 | Chris Thompson, Wash. | 10 | 3.9 | 29 | 51 | 80 | .60 | 15.5 |
| 2016 | Jay Ajayi, Mia. | 13 | 1.8 | 95 | 9 | 104 | .54 | 15.4 |
| 2014 | Justin Forsett, Balt. | 14 | 2.5 | 81 | 17 | 98 | .50 | 15.3 |
| 2015 | Danny Woodhead, S.D. | 16 | 5.0 | 21 | 47 | 68 | .56 | 15.2 |
| 2015 | Doug Martin, T.B. | 16 | 2.1 | 88 | 17 | 105 | .44 | 15.1 |
Most likely Bell won’t show up until a week before the opener. That’s what he did last year. That probably will result in him starting the season a little slowly. That’s how it played out last year. And with the Steelers having a new offensive coordinator this year (they didn’t retain Todd Haley) that might result in them using Bell less on passing downs.
But on the plus side, Bell showed up in pretty good shape last year after holding out. And with him sitting out training camp, that probably improves his odds of not suffering a freak injury in workouts. That tends to happen to a player or two each summer.
—Ian Allan