All-Pro Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’veon Bell is currently not reporting to the team due to his dissatisfaction with his contract. In the NFL teams can use the Franchise Tag, a tool used by teams so they can keep key players whom they can potentially lose in free agency and, so they do not hamstring the team’s salary cap situation for the upcoming year. The first time a player is franchise tagged teams must pay the player the average salary of the top five players at that given position. In rare instances, teams may franchise tag players two years in a row which requires the team to pay players a 120% increase from what the player made last year. This is the case for Le’veon Bell he has been franchise tagged for the 2018 and 2017 seasons. He is scheduled to make $14.5 million this year but he is looking for a long-term deal. Le’veon has told people he wants to be paid between $15 to $17 million a year like the amount of a top Wide Receiver makes in the league. The consensus was that a team would never pay a running back that amount of money because of the fact, when they reach their second contract most begin to decline and are not able to live up to the contract they signed. On July 24th the Los Angeles Rams changed the game by giving Todd Gurley a four-year contract extension worth $60 million with $45 million guaranteed. This not only reset the market for running backs, but I also believed once Le’veon saw the extension that Gurley received his extensions drew a line in the sand about signing the franchise tag tenure and showing up to training camp. Gurley who had 2 years remaining on his current contract received his extension which showed that if you have great talent which Le’veon and Gurley both have someone will be willing to pay you. Recently on September 5, 2018, several Pittsburgh Steelers offensive linemen spoke out against Le’veon and made unfavorable comments about the running back and even compared his salary to theirs. This crossed the line because there is an unspoken rule that you do not talk about how much someone else makes. With the season starting this week Le’veon Bell will not be with the team which means he is forfeiting $845K which is what he makes per game. Since Le’veon has not signed his franchise tenure he will not be fined for not being with the team he just will miss game checks for all games he does not attend. For Le’veon to get credited for a year of service with the Pittsburgh Steelers he must be active for 6 games and then he can become an unrestricted free agent. In theory, Le’veon can wait until week 10 to report to the team and still receive a full credited year of service. However, the Steelers can put Le’veon on the commissioner’s exempt list for 2 weeks in which they would not have to pay him. If I was Le’veon I would show up week 8 to make sure that I am credited for a full year and to have a talk with the offensive linemen about them throwing me under the bus. Steeler’s star wide receiver Antonio Brown came to the defense of Le’veon with an Instagram post saying “We all we got, we all we need. Ready to roll whenever you get back with us, family” and tagged Le’veon in the post. This will most likely be Le’veon’s last year in Pittsburgh and with both sides knowing that you have a difference in philosophies from the player and team standpoints. If you’re the Steelers, you will do everything you can to win and Le’veon gives your team the best chance to win; this means the Steelers will put the ball in his hand as much as possible. Le’veon’s thought process is to take the least amount of hits as possible, knowing when it comes to negotiating his next contract next season his new team will use all the touches he has this season against him. Le’veon touched the football over 400 times last year and if he were to do that this year the chances him of getting the big payday he is looking for this offseason will be diminished. Until the NFL gives guaranteed contracts to their players the star players I believe they will hold out until they are able to get what they think they are worth. We have seen this happen in 2 other instances this year with Aaron Donald and Khalil Mack both players ended getting their money. I do not see Le’veon coming back until absolutely needs to, so he can become a free agent next year and I completely agree with him.
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