Pittsburgh/Bell Situation

[stl4life07]

Bell is who I am siding with on this one. When it comes to the players getting paid I am all for it. The Steelers want to do what the Cowboys did to Murray in 2014 and thats run him into the ground and then let him walk. Bell is just as impactful to the Steelers as Brown. Bell rushed for at least 1200yds 3 of the past 4 seasons. He has also caught at least 75 balls in 3 of the past 4 seasons. I believe last season he was only 15 receptions behind Brown. Like he is a great runner and receiver and should get paid like it. Now I know he is soon to be 27 but again if the Steelers wouldve paid Bell his money 2yrs ago when he was 24yrs old we wouldnt be having this conversation.

The Rams paid Gurley who just turned 24yrs old. The Rams did things the right way. I suspect thats the approach teams should go with these great backs. Lets see them do it for 2yrs (Gurley did it in 2015 and 2017), Bell did it in (2014, 2016, and 2017) then pay the back according to their worth. Stop with the franchise tag. The franchise tag is for players that you somewhat believe in but you need to see another year to make sure. The example wouldve been Ingram prior to his breakout season in 2016. The Saints drafted him the 1st round. He has talent but was so injury prone that if he can just stay healthy he would be really good. If the Saints wouldve franchise tagged him just to give him one more shot to prove himself that is what the franchise tag is for. The Saints obviously didnt do it and Ingram went on in the 2016 season to have a breakout year then got an extension from the Saints then came back in 2017 to have an even better season. In Bell case its about paying the man. Its nothing personal its business. Bell doesnt want to get run down tot he ground by the Steelers then the Steelers can give him an excuse not to pay him and when Bell hit the market his asking price drops because he another 400+ touch season and/or is dealing with an injury he might have suffered during the season. So I dont blame Bell. The Steelers shouldve handled the situation better by paying Bell 2yrs ago.  

[Forge]

Just now, ET80 said:

Given this situation, what would his trade value look like? Steelers are basically SOL until Week 10, Bell is walking back into a hostile locker room - you've got to think a team can come in with a trade offer that is far less than what Bell is worth. Contract situation is different, but somebody has the cap room needed to make an offer.

Is there any team out there who'd fit this bill? 

As Villain said, what kind value are you going to get for a guy you can't resign because the franchise deadline has passed? I don't think that the Steelers get higher value than the expected comp pick that they would get by just letting him walk at the end of the year. Especially when the entire issue for Bell is limiting his touches, and seems to be what is propelling the hold out. 

[game3525]

1 hour ago, bigbadbuff23835 said:

Haven’t seen this being discussed on here much.  What is going on? And why haven’t they traded him is my bigger question.

Because they are trying to win the Super Bowl and Bell is one of the three best RB's in the game. On top of that, I think the Steelers truly thought he would report by now. If they knew he wouldn't show up, then they likely try to move him in the spring. 

[TheVillain112]

8 minutes ago, stl4life07 said:

The Steelers shouldve handled the situation better by paying Bell 2yrs ago.  

Disagree here.  Steelers are smart to not sign Bell to a long term deal.  Even if you ignore the past injuries and suspensions for Bell, it's just not wise to spend a lot on a RB.

I'm of the mindset that RBs don't really matter (in terms of total scoring or W/L) in today's NFL.  Some reasons why:

https://www.numberfire.com/nfl/news/19933/saquon-barkley-may-be-a-generational-talent-but-he-ll-still-be-overdrafted

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

Bell is right for wanting to get paid and preserve his body.

Steelers are right for not wanting to pay a commodity that is overrated in the NFL and a commodity that has a lot of touches and a short shelf life.

I'm just enjoying watching the team seem to implode over this.

[game3525]

15 minutes ago, SilverNBlackFan said:

I think its pathetic on the part of the Steelers players to come out and bad mouth a guy while he's not there. First you shouldn't even be talking about another man's money, so that little "hes making twice more then me" quote by their offensive lineman was just pathetic. 

If I was Bell, I would take my sweet time even more. The way those offensive Linemen were crying yesterday,  they might purposely miss a block and get you hurt.

The anger from Steeler players isn't really about the money.

Apparently, Bell gave them the impression (or outright told teammates) that he would report on Labor Day and they were preparing as if he was going to show up. They shouldn't talk about his money, but I can see why they are upset. Bell is well within his rights to sit out, but it is bush league to lie to your teammates. 

[Broncofan]

13 minutes ago, game3525 said:

The anger from Steeler players isn't really about the money.

Apparently, Bell gave them the impression (or outright told teammates) that he would report on Labor Day and they were preparing as if he was going to show up. They shouldn't talk about his money, but I can see why they are upset. Bell is well within his rights to sit out, but it is bush league to lie to your teammates. 

It absolutely is bush league to lie to them - but it doesn't justify the players crucifying him publicly, either.    In the grand scheme of things, Bell's holdout (like Donald, Thomas & Mack) are moves meant to try and push the salary scale so it's more player-friendly - and no doubt it has some ripple effect on the middle tier (lower tier, not so much).   So even if they despite him rightfully for not reporting after telling them he would, they shouldn't be crucifying him publicly - behind closed doors, fair game.  But the bigger picture is that the NFLPA needs to push this (along with more guaranteed $ in 2nd deals, more $ in post-career medical/health support, and addressing the Commish-supreme power for suspension appeals, and if they have enough stomach for it, removing weed from the outdated drug list). 

At the very least, the NFLPA should have released a statement in full support of what Bell is trying to do here. And yet, who's leading the crucifixion patrol on Pittsburgh?  Ramon Foster - their NFLPA rep.  That alone encapsulates how inept the NFLPA is, and why they are in the mess they are with the current CBA being the joke that it is.  They can't even get their team reps, the ones with the most knowledge, to back Bell's stance publicly.   SMH.  With leadership like this, they have no shot at real change when the CBA comes up for renewal (because if they were organized, they'd get a war chest going, and settle in for a long battle - but they can't even get their reps to see the big picture and not think of themselves first...well, good luck guys).

I couldn't have put it better than below:

 

[NJerseypaint]

2 minutes ago, game3525 said:

The anger from Steeler players isn't really about the money.

Apparently, Bell gave them the impression (or outright told teammates) that he would report on Labor Day and they were preparing as if he was going to show up. They shouldn't talk about his money, but I can see why they are upset. Bell is well within his rights to sit out, but it is bush league to lie to your teammates. 

This is so silly to me. If he got injured walking into the facility would they be whining that it's unfair to the team because he's not on the field? And he's an RB - just sub in the next one. Not like he's got the secret key that unlocks the playbook.

[game3525]

1 minute ago, NJerseypaint said:

This is so silly to me. If he got injured walking into the facility would they be whining that it's unfair to the team because he's not on the field? And he's an RB - just sub in the next one. Not like he's got the secret key that unlocks the playbook.

Again, it isn't the holdout that bothers them. It is the fact that he apparently lied. If Bell had said back in June that he wasn't going to report,  I would be surprise you would hear anything from his teammates. 

[TheVillain112]

28 minutes ago, game3525 said:

Again, it isn't the holdout that bothers them. It is the fact that he apparently lied. If Bell had said back in June that he wasn't going to report,  I would be surprise you would hear anything from his teammates. 

This is where it gets a bit odd. Back in January Bell put out a statement that he wasn't going to play under the Tag again and that he might sit out the whole year.  He made several statements since then though about "This is going to be my best year ever" and "All I care about is winning a Super Bowl this year, not caring about what the future holds".

So he's basically talking in circles.  Pouncey was right that he should have just said his intentions at the beginning and communicated that properly...

[PFM18]

Simple fact of the matter is neither side will benefit from making a move right now.

This isn't a long term relationship anymore. After this season Bell and the Steelers is not going to be any sort of relationship.

Bell is looking after Number 1, which is absolutely fine and what any player should be doing in this situation despite your team mates protests, and the Steelers are making it appear that they don''t need him, which, as they won't have him for much longer, they have to embrace and get used to.

Bell (and his agent) know he's getting paid next season whether he plays one down or a thousand, so why put your body on the line for a team you don't have much feeling for and which could only affect your prospects long term?

[SBLIII]

Bell told something different this summer than what he is actually doing right now, but anyway, Bell will probably hold out until week 11 or so and then hit the open market in March.

 

Honestly, I don't see this going well for either party. Steelers might lose a few more games without Bell and even when he is back it might be too late and he might not be fully motivated anymore and on the other hand I don't think Bell will get the money in FA he thinks he will get.  I mean you are looking at a 27 year old RB that has 2-3 more years left in the tank and his best days might already be behind him. If a team pays him close to 15M/year that would be absolutely insane.

[DontTazeMeBro]

Good for Bell. They want to keep paying him a year at a time and run him into the ground until all his value is gone

[PFM18]

Rapsheet just reporting Bell is actually expected to report on Saturday.

Sounds like stuff needs to be sorted out between him, the players etc before he sees the field. 

[11sanchez11]

Who is more likely to get what they want out of the situation, David Johnson ( who ended his holdout a couple weeks ago) or Bell?

The situations are probably different but I don't really follow these NFL storylines because they are mostly uninteresting.