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NFL is a week-to-week business. A lot changed over this last week... no serious response to trade rumors and Sunday loss in a "winnable" divisional game where there was no trust in the RB position.
LOL
Here's the thing. You mentioned that if a playoff caliber team needed a RB to put them into the elite category . . . but there is a limited market for that when you consider:
Agree to disagree on that. Yes, people are concerned about their health and everything. But to think everyone is in a situation remotely similar to Bell is a bit ridiculous.
I agree with most of that and the market for him would be extremely limited, but not non-existent. I wouldn't think they'd care at all about trading him to Philly - there's no cross-state rivalry between them.
Because BAL happened in week 4.
He won't be back for the CIN game and probably wouldn't see much time on the field against CLE which is week after he says he'll be back. So it's pointless.
I may be naive but if Bell suits up he is going to play hard. If there is one thing that is important to him it is getting paid and showing up out of shape and playing below standard is not the best way to get a big contract.
According to Overthecap, PIT has $17 million in cap room for next year as currently constituted without calculating any credit for Bell from this year. Per their numbers, that's 29th in terms of effective available cap space at $10.5M (again, pre-Bell adjustment). If we given them full credit for Bell and bump that number up to $25 million, that would get them up to 20th in available cap space. Many other teams dwarf that total.
I know that he won't be back for the CIN game, I was mainly pointing out their schedule w/ 3 HUGE division games back to back to back. PIT is going to be in a big time fight for a playoff spot given their slow start. If they feel he can help their chances of winning a game, especially a division game, I think he's going to play (assuming he's back as he's said he will be)
It is what it is. They're always up against the cap, and they'll find players that can help that fit, maybe restructure a couple along the way. They'll figure it out or the defense will continue to suck.
They reached out and said what? Pretty please come back? The Steelers didn't know Bell was head over heels better than Conner before week 4? Bell only decided to make a statement because the Steelers contacted him and begged him to return? Makes no sense. Bell spoke out now because he and his agent are making it up as they go along.
Exactly. The guy is going to play hard. What's the line from Little Big League after the pompous pitcher says he's going to tank just to rub it in the face of the kid coach? " Hey Mac, what's the going rate for an absent-minded pitcherwho can't get anybody out"
LOL yes, our President is both nuts and embarrassing!
How could they have? Up to that point, as @Donkey Derpkept posting, Conner had been better than Bell for the first 3 games of the season, and for the first 3 starts of his career, and he had better numbers in college, and in HS, and in flag football, and in Madden. So how could the Steelers have known that Bell was better than Conner, and that one outlier game was skewing the small sample size of Conner’s NFL games? How could they possibly have known this?
Is this a serious post? They were both on the roster the entire season last year. I'm pretty sure the coaches would know if they had a superstar sitting on the bench.
I was exaggerating when I said he brought up HS & Madden stats, but yes, he seriously argued that Conners was comparable to Bell because he had better FF stats in the 1st 3 games of this year (vs Bell’s 2017), and Conners 1st 3 starts vs Bells first 3 starts, and their college stats.
Yes. Exactly.
I haven't been following along in the thread so i'm not sure who is being serious and who isn't.
I've said this right from the beginning - he should have told the Steelers his intentions before week 1. His silence males no sense for HIM.
No, he should've told the Steelers his intentions to sit out like this in July when the Steelers could've realistically tagged and traded him to a team willing to offer him the deal he wants. His silence wasn't going to get the Steelers to rescind the tag, so in effect he had nothing to gain by doing it. Granted, the Steelers lost his services for however many games, but he lost a year of his prime, millions of dollars this year, and a chance to start getting paid a year earlier by another team.
You could say the Steelers didn't do themselves any favors either by not telling him they would trade him to a team that wanted to give him that deal.
No, they aren't. Again, this year wasn't going anywhere with that defense. A year of Ben is being wasted, but it's not because of anything Bell did or didn't do. That opinion is shared by a majority of Steelers fans also.
Meh if they treated him with more resepect they'd be 3-1 or 2-2 with him and some SB equity. They played hardball and are really paying a heavier price than Bell. Bell is paying a big price doing what he thinks is best too.
Sure they would. You're entitled to that opinion, but I disagree with it. All good though, and we've been through that enough.
You are missing an angle here. This is what I think most likely happened.
Is it possible that his agent told him to stay quiet? Sure. Who knows. If that's the case, he got awful advice from his agent. But then again, his agent reportedly thought Bell was going to sign the deal the Steelers offered him LAST year (5 years, $60 million with $30M in the first 2 years) and it was Bell's decision to walk away from it at the last second. So, I don't think the Steelers had any intention of offering more or meeting his reported asking price this year. They never tried.
That offer last year wasn't that good either. Even with Bell playing roughly half a season this year he is going to get 20 million from the Steelers in guarantees in 2 years instead of 30 for 5.
Again, it goes beyond the numbers. You're talking about Bell, who has two suspensions on his track record as well as skipping the walkthrough and arriving late for the playoff loss in 2017 against Jacksonville. That doesn't sit well with the Steelers. Neither Gurley or Johnson have any off-the-field issues or concerns at all, and they were rewarded for both their production and their reliability. Bell's production is top notch, but that only tells half the story.
1st. You don't know if they have any off the field issues. According to the CBA they can fail up to 3 drug tests before getting a suspension and they aren't leaked until they are close to a suspension. You are also way over blowing the two suspensions. He was never in any danger of anything more than a 4 game suspension and he is out of the program. As far as showing up late everything I have looked up shows Bell had an excuse and that Tomlin knew about and was okay with it. In most of the articles it even says
BS. He got paid $12M or $13M for his 2017 season. And then he skipped the walkthrough and was late for a playoff game, which sent a very strong message to the front office about his reliability. He's never at any point in his career acted like a player worthy of a long term guarantee off the field regardless of what his numbers say on it. You favor the player over the team, great. But it's not just about his stats even though that's all the player seems to care about.
It was big news in Pittsburgh at the time, but I'm too lazy to find stuff again. It doesn't matter now. Those players or coaches who ignored the rule aren't seeking long term massive guarantees. Bell is. It speaks to an overall lack of discipline in the Steelers organization that's been growing for years, but that's a whole other issue. If Bell wants a massive contract like that, he shouldn't be one of the ones ignoring the rules.
Your first paragraph is funny. It was big news in Pittsburgh because they lost and fans needed someone to blame.
If someone will pay him then it's not more than he's worth......enjoy the wasted year Steelers.
Needed someone to blame? There was plenty to go around after that debacle... didn't need any more, especially when Bell played well.
There's always someone with cap space and money to burn, and that's the team that'll sign Bell. I and damn near every Steelers fan out there are glad it's not the Steelers who'll do it.
That is not correct. They all do want the same thing... they just don't agree on how to get there.
