Steeler running back Le’Veon Bell refused “monstrous $70 million deal from the Steelers”

… a cancer on the team

Many outlets are reporting that the Pittsburgh Steelers refused to offer running back Le’Veon Bell a new contract, but that is not the case. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, that is not the case. The Steeler offer was declined by Bell on Monday prior to the deadline, and he will again be the franchise player for the team.

Rapoport tweeted this: “From what I understand, the #Steelers’ final offer to RB Le’Veon Bell was 5 years, $70M with more than $30M over 2 years. Last year, the offer was 5 years, $60M. ... Instead, he’ll earn $14.5M on another franchise tag.” CBS Sports then added a reason for the denial: “Although the offer would have given Bell the largest multi-year contract of any running back in the NFL, he turned it down, and one reason he likely did that, is because it was nowhere near his asking price, which was reportedly in the neighborhood of $17 million per season.”

Talented but troubled

Bell is a very talented young player, rushing for 1,291 yards and adding 65 yards through the air, scoring 11 touchdowns. However, he has also been problematic in a number of areas. Between losing some time because of drug issues or injuries, Bell seldom finishes a season.

In his first season in 2014, the second round pick out of Michigan State was arrested to drug usage and possession. He and a former running back were sitting in a car at a stoplight in Pittsburgh smoking weed with the windows down. Since he was driving the car, he was also charged with driving under the influence. Police found a 20 gram bag of marijuana in the car, and the NFL suspended him for three games, then reduced that to two. He missed ten games in his rookie season, and the team went 7-3.

Then in 2016, he was suspended for four games, later reduced to three, for missing a drug test. Since then, he has not had a drug suspension as he has perhaps cleaned up his act as he attempts to garner a huge contract.

Still, the Steelers offered him 70 million over five years, but he was upset about many aspects of it.

Wants Brown-like contract

This has been coming for a while. In Feb. during the owners meetings, the NFL Network reported that the Steelers were trying to put together a long-term deal. They quoted Mike Tomlin, “Everybody knows we're in the business of trying to lock him up for the rest of his career,” Aditi Kinkhabwa reported. However, he added this disclaimer. “However, as (general manager) Kevin Colbert ... told the local media, there's no urgency right now, and here's why: Le'Veon Bell wants $17 million a year. He wants to be paid exactly like Antonio Brown is paid. So the Steelers are saying, 'Well, we're going to wait a little while before we address that fully because clearly the Steelers don't feel that that's where Bell's value is’.”

However, despite having good numbers last season, he was only fifth in total value according to Football Outsiders. “… for as good as Bell is, he ranked No. 5 in total value among all running backs last season … behind Dion Lewis (who just signed a four-year, $19.8 million deal with the Titans), Todd Gurley, Alvin Kamara and Kareem Hunt. Kamara and Hunt, by the way, were rookie third-round picks who earned $465,000 last season,” CBS wrote.

The Steelers made a tremendous offer to Bell in terms of running backs. “At $14 million per year, the Steelers were willing to make Bell the highest-paid running back in the league by almost $6 million per season. There's literally no other player in the league who would turn down a contract that made them the highest-paid player at their position by SIX MILLION DOLLARS,” CBS wrote yesterday. Running backs no longer command the money they used to, even if they have great pass-catching skills, like Bell does.

Attitude and dissension in the locker room
The Steelers can attempt to trade Bell for this season, but they will likely not receive much compensation and may have to eat some of that $14.5 million franchise contract. Earlier this year, Bell said what he was going to do. “I'm not going to sit out. I’m going to be in the facility Week 1. It's going to be a rerun of last year. I'm not going to (training) camp. I'm not doing nothing else extra, OTAs, none of that. I'm going to strictly go to what I have to go to. I want to win every game. I want to have the best statistical career that I possibly can, so I want to play in every game that I can possibly play."

His agent reinforced that in a tweet yesterday:

Q: Le'Veon will take the same approach as last year...he will not participate in the off-season and he will be there Week 1?

A: Barring something exceptional...that is correct.

-@LeVeonBell's Agent @AdisaBakari
12:23 PM - Jul 17, 2018

Remember that the Steelers lost their first-round playoff game last season to Jacksonville at home after going 13-3 in the regular season. The year before, they were mangled by the Patriots by three touchdowns in the AFC title game. And when they did win last year, they were often last-minute comebacks, sometimes against teams that were not very good.

Was this because of dissension in the locker room? Just think about this. Players bust their tails during preseason camp while another guy sits out, and then he plays in the first game like he was there with them. That hurts team chemistry, regardless of how good the player is. It also leads to dissension when a coach does not discipline a player for missing camp. It hurts morale, and with the loss to Jacksonville, you wonder what was going through the minds of other players.

After the Jacksonville debacle, this headline highlighted that concern. “Le'Veon Bell reportedly blew off Steelers' walkthrough before Jaguars loss.”It quoted the Post-Gazette’s Ed Bouchette, “Tomlin wants players and coaches to report to the locker room two hours before kickoff for games. That was continually ignored by both players and a coach or two. Not only did Bell arrive much later than that for the playoff game against Jacksonville (as well as one coach), he missed practically the entire Saturday walk-through the day before, showing up about five minutes before practice ended.”

Yes, he is a cancer on this team, and they would be better without him. And if coaches are not showing up either, what does that say about Tomlin?

Right now, the Steelers are a mess, but if he clamps down this year, perhaps they will play well in the post-season. Getting rid of Bell would actually be a good first step toward that goal.