Two first-team All-Pro selections in five seasons. Ninth all-time in rushing yards-per-game (86.1). Touchdowns in 69% of games played; similar to the 67% of games he is available for.
...You can guess which one of those numbers is less than ideal.
Le'Veon Bell changed the running back position when he entered the league in 2013. He came as a hybrid player just as dangerous when catching the ball as he was when handed it. But a short career marred in suspensions and injury means he's found himself in a tough spot at the negotiating table when trying to get paid.
So far the Steelers have neglected to reward Bell's production with a rich, long-term contract. They opted for the franchise tag and paid less money for more security. The move was chalked down to smart business; why pay a running back huge sums of money when history says he'll accept less?
That plan worked until last season, when Bell decided not to report under the franchise tag -- costing him $14.55 million. It made teams fully aware that number 26 has a high opinion of his worth.
Yes, the Steelers treated Le'Veon Bell unfairly since the superstar running back made it clear that he did not want to be franchise-tagged in 2017. While the team understands Bell's game-changing elusiveness - ranking second in yards-after-contact in his last two seasons - and they realise defenses adapt to the former second-round pick's presence - completely opening up the offense for Big Ben - the Steelers also realise the NFL is a business. And as history suggests, the Steelers made a good business decision by not rewarding their revolutionary back.
After low-balling Bell for three seasons, the Steelers are finally allowing their best player to test his worth on the open market. Not locking Bell up could easily backfire, but Pittsburgh's logic has been on-point ever since opening talks with Bell about his future.
Whether fair or not.
A number of factors combine to really affect Bell's position when negotiating a contract this off-season. The first is Bell's 2018 fill-in, James Conner. Conner's production with the Steelers in 2018 certainly knocked millions of dollars in guaranteed money off Bell's dream deal. It showed teams that players costing far less money can produce similar numbers in the right situation. It brought up (unfond) memories of the league's best running back prior to Bell - DeMarco Murray - who produced All-Pro numbers behind a stout offensive line in Dallas five years ago.
Murray was named first-team All-Pro and Offensive Player of the Year in 2014, just as his rookie contract with Dallas expired. He hit free agency and signed a $42 million deal with Philadelphia -- almost double what the Cowboys had offered him. The star running back lasted just one year with the Eagles before being traded to Tennessee, playing two more years there, and retiring. Aged 29.
As the Ringer reported last year, Murray's career arc is the perfect example why running backs only make more than kickers and punters. But there is one major difference between Murray and Bell -- Bell is a dual-threat running back.
Dual-threat, superstar running backs Todd Gurley and David Johnson signed contracts in 2018 -- providing reference points for Bell's negotiations. Gurley's four-year, $60 million deal - including $45 million in guarantees - certainly reset the market and was followed up with Johnson's three-year, $39 million deal with $24.7 million in guarantees. The two players now earn $15 million and $13 million a year respectively.
While the pair of NFC West running back deals are huge improvements on the typical running back market, they're not quite up to NFL Media's report that Bell turned down a five-year, $70 million deal in 2018. Bell wanted to make $17 million per year - $3 million more than was offered - and wanted more guaranteed money than the $33 million offered. The open market certainly results in bigger contracts, but any team will struggle to take on $17 million-a-year for a non-quarterback that suffers huge wear-and-tear each season.
But the Gurley and Johnson contracts aren't just reference points money-wise.
Having missed 2017 with a broken wrist, Johnson's 2018 return failed to look even close to his first-team All-Pro year in 2016. Johnson was stuck in a different scheme and behind a poor offensive line, and like Murray, highlighted that talented running backs still require a strong cast around them and creative play-calling in order to create holes on the field. Bell can't bring that to his new team; each million spent on the running back will further limit options on the O-line and out wide.
Gurley raised a separate question. His mega-investment paid dividends early in 2018 but he was too worn out to perform when it mattered most. Gurley held 34.1% of his team's touches before being side-lined in Los Angeles's final two regular season games. His number then dropped to 22.4% of touches in the post-season -- when Gurley was clearly too banged up to produce game-changing numbers.
The problem with dual-threat backs is coaches want to get them the ball "early and often". Bell will be burdened with touches if a team pays him as their man in the backfield and number two receiver. He has missed 12% of games in his professional career due to injury -- including a 2014 wild card loss to the Baltimore Ravens. It's difficult to pay a huge portion of the salary cap to a volatile position that gets injured more than any other skill position.
Then there's Bell's discipline. No serviceable running back - one who's played a significant NFL snap - has been suspended more than Bell (5 games) since he entered the league. Mark Ingram (4 games), Aaron Jones (2 games), LeGarrette Blount (1 games) and Ahmad Bradshaw (1 games) are the only notable RBs to be suspended in that time. While Bell has not been suspended since 2016, his substance abuse violations in back-to-back years illustrates his stubbornness.
Whether for right or wrong, Bell's availability caused a division in the Steelers locker room when he skipped the entire 2018 season. Offensive linemen Ramon Foster, Maurkice Pouncey and David DeCastro publicly èxpressed annoyance with Bell's absence in September, per TheScore.com, while videos showed teammates raiding Bell's locker when the back didn't report in November.
The lack of cohesiveness with Bell won't go unnoticed by general managers, who stay away from such players in free agency's other gold mine, the draft. Super Bowls are won with teammates stepping up for one another -- look no further than Brady and Edelman's relationship this past Super Bowl, or Jason Kelce's winning speech in 2018, for proof. Bell missed 21 of his 101 games in the Steelers' black and gold as a result of his own actions, showing he has not been their for his teammates.
General managers and coaches enjoy few things less than having to create multiple plans based around any player's self-imposed availability, whether it be through suspension or hold out.
The kind of disruption Bell caused the Steelers will haunt Bell's agent Adisa Bakari when he works on Bell's new deal -- especially factoring in how big of a distraction Bell's media presence could continue to be in the future.
But despite 1) Pittsburgh's logic 2) the impact of James Conner, DeMarco Murray, Todd Gurley and David Johnson, or 3) the headaches Bell can create, just one team needs to feel they are an All-Pro back away from a Super Bowl in order to grant Le'Veon Bell a contract three years in the works; and seven years in the making.
And Pittsburgh can move forward knowing it exhausted every reason to let Bell go while trying to hang on forever.
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