Le’Veon Bell Deserves A Big Contract But Will He Get It?

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Let me start off by saying this: Le’Veon Bell deserves EVERY PENNY he’s asking for. Now, let me tell you why he may not get it (I really hope I’m wrong because this dude deserves his fetty!).

Lev Bell was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2013 NFL Draft and balled damn near immediately. Honestly, he looked nothing like the big, bruising back that punished defenses on the regular in the Big 10...but let’s get back on track. He signed a four year deal his rookie season that paid him slightly less than $1.35M in a signing bonus and then base salaries of $405,000, $495,000, $687,882 and $853,147 in 2016. After his contract was up in 2016, the Steelers decided to hit him with the franchise tag in 2017. As we all know, both sides couldn’t work out a long term deal, he sat out the entire offseason, reported to camp at the end of the preseason, started for the Steelers Week One and BALLED per usual. This year, it seems as though history may repeat itself given that LB was once again tagged and I don’t think the Steelers are going to pay him. Why?! I’m glad you asked.

Running back is one of the most dangerous skill positions to play in football. Your job is to run between the tackles, take on blitzing linebackers and safeties and catch the ball out of the backfield with most defenders playing top down on most of your pass plays. That makes for a lot of collisions, and frankly, NFL owners don’t want to put a lot of money in a player who has a high risk of getting injured and “high risk” is, unfortunately, a natural party to the running back job description.

Yet, quarterbacks are different. Yeah, they have to worry about defenders coming off the edge on blitzes, defensive lineman jumping at their knees in the pocket and defenders coming at them like kamikaze missiles when running outside the pocket, but QBs are also “protected”. It’s engrained in ALL PLAYERS, whether at practice or in game situations, to not touch the quarterback and owners like that. They pay quarterbacks more money than anyone else on the roster to be the face of the franchise. Why?! The rule changes over the years have continued to add extra protection to quarterbacks so they owners know that their investment is PROTECTED!

Because running backs don’t have this type of protection and owners feel it’s only a matter of time before their star running back suffers a devastating injury, they’d rather pay them as they go.

INSIDE THE MIND OF AN NFL OWNER: “Sure, we’ll franchise Le’Veon Bell and if he plays every game in 2018, he’ll get the +$14M he deserves and we’ll make a great return on our investment. But if he happens to get injured in 2018, we’re only responsible for his 2018 salary and don’t have to worry about having to pay a fat contract to a running back, as great as he is, coming off an injury who may not be the same once he returns.”

Plus, teams believe running backs start to tail off around their 10th year in the league and Le’Veon is entering his 6th year. The Steelers may very well believe that they’d rather get their money’s worth for Lev Bell now rather than pay a lot of money for less productive years in the future. And if the Steelers and LB decide to play this game again next year, his tag number would be north of $20M. Now if he’s healthy and still producing at the high levels we’ve seen the past couple years, the Steelers may consider it for one more year and I probably wouldn’t blame them either.

But after looking at how Le'Veon's situation has played out, I believe players like Ezekiel Elliot and Leonard Fournette shouldn’t wait until after their contracts are up to hold out for new deals. These young bulls should hold out NOW! The teams and everyone (and their mommas) have seen the impact these guys have had on their squads and understand how important they are to the success of their respective teams. Instead of waiting until you reach a threshold where teams are wondering if your play will start to diminish or after you’ve already suffered a major injury, strike while your star is still rising so you can capture that huge deal in your younger years and realize financial security before teams start playing the age game.

The next few weeks, months will be interesting as we track Le’Veon Bell’s contract situation. And even though we, along with Steeler fans and Steeler opponents, will be very intrigued; our young, talented crop of NFL running backs should be the most intrigued of all.