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That's what he said he'd do earlier this year. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000920141/article/leveon-bell-no-longterm-deal-will-spark-rerun-of-17
Yes. I am considering only actual games. IMO, if he decides to go walkabout, he will be back for Week 1, similar to what he did last year.
I do not think the preseason games count for this poll as there is zero chance he plays in any of them. last year he signed his tender a week before the season. I expect the same this year.
In that case I change my vote to zero. As Anarchy explained above, it doesn't benefit him to hold out.
I’m not sure where this is coming from. Duane Brown did so last year and I distinctly remember VJax doing so as well.
Duane Brown was not on a Franchise Tag, he had two years left on his existing contract and wanted a new one.
I am always leery of blanket statements without knowing more. For example, in the games Bell was out was Ben or Brown out too? And who were the teams they played when Bell was out? If Bell sat out a 45-3 laughter against the Browns, that would skew the numbers. I will look into this more when I get a chance. He could have missed games against other bottom tier teams.
This could be a lot of things since it is a 16 game sample. Who were they playing, was it weaker teams and the Steelers would score more? Also Bell can slow the games down with his running. The Steelers defense also gave up 2 less points per game.
Sure. I'm leery too. I'm saying the Steelers were VERY aware of this number.
Sure. These things always have lots of factors.
Agreed. He'd said as much in March to expect a repeat of 2017. His tweet today about a great September seems to fit right with that.
I think you may be asking the wrong question. I think most would be in agreement that PIT is a better team with Bell than without. So the question becomes what contract would Steeler fans have been comfortable in giving him? How many years, annual value, and guaranteed money.
This would be unforgivable to media and fans. I don't see any healthy player doing this.
But what is the holdout going to get him? BY RULE, he is prohibited from making any more money than the franchise tag for this year, and he cannot sign another deal with PIT until January after Week 17. There can be no more negotiating from now until then. By not playing, he is only burning money at the rate of around $875,000 per game. PIT can't give him anything else.
Him holding out ... will change the leverage the owners have on the players.
If he gets tagged again (and he won't), he will be due 144 percent of his salary this year, or an average of the top 5 salaries at the highest paid position (QB) - whichever is highest. That is never going to happen.
Yeah, but 2 things. I am a MSU alum, so I am a little impartial. Second. I would have met him in the middle some how. He wanted 16 and probably close to 50 million guaranteed. I believe the Steelers offered 12 million average with around 40 guaranteed. So 45 guaranteed and 14 million per? Or give him the 16 per with only 40ish guarantee or 12 million per with 50 guaranteed. I am just throwing vague numbers out though, because I wasn't in the room and have no idea where they were at exactly on the numbers.
I had heard Bell wanted what Brown gets per year ($17 million). That would be $85 million over 5 years (so a difference of $15 million in total value). And he probably wanted more guaranteed. It might seem crazy to us, but clearly he wanted more than PIT offered.
Clearly that's what he was thinking.
It’s not his agents fault. They had a similar offer last year. The agent AGREED to it and then went to have Bell signed and he told him to go screw. Guy is screwy. He’s like TO but because he hasn’t been out front of a media circus it hasn’t been exposed.
As I mentioned in one of these threads, the way the system is now, a team can get 5 years from a RB on a rookie deal and another 2 on a franchise tag. If a rookie back went to 4 years of college, he could be 23 as a rookie. By the time that back got to free agency, he could be 30 before having a chance to hit the open market. And we already know teams are not going to shell out big money to a 30 year old running back. I remember hearing that the average NFL RB has an 3.5 year career and there is a decent chance the RBs will have little chance to make a huge payday.
sure he wanted to retire a Steeler... good luck dude.
