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Leveon Bell

stillwright said:
That's their job. Stupid RB running his mouth.
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Well I could show them how to do their job a **** of a lot better. Like actually ask a hard question at a press conference with Tomlin.
This is just stirring ****. I think we all know it will be a difficult negotation. Pay him big for three years. Be done. if he wont take it **** him. They still have his rights.
 
stillwright said:
Need to also look for a RB in the draft now. I hope the Steelers don't cave to his ****. Offer the man a fair deal and if he decides to hold out or retire....let him.
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I don't know about a 3yr deal. I'd tag him this last time. If he sits entire year we still have tag rights for another year as it would carry over.
He is saying the wrong **** similar to last year. I'm a little pissed at the reporter but MORE pissed as to why he didn't answer in player speak??
Iron the contract out in the privacy of the team. This public media exchange on his part is absolutely atrocious in my eyes.



Salute the nation
 
Pat Kirwan said it best today, “This would be him walking away vs taking the cash, and cash is undefeated.”
 
Cope said:
It doesn't change my strategy at all on his contract this season.

You franchise him, you have to. FA is before the draft. You need a chip to trade with. I then offer him the exact same contract and terms he got last year. It's a year later, $30M still guaranteed in the first 2 years, and he benefitted from kicking the can down the road by getting $12M last year.

I then negotiate a trade if he balks at the contract. I'd actually make the contract offer before the tag.

Then his decision is, get your agent to find a trading partner, or make $14M next year. If he doesn't want to make money, I'm fine with him sitting. He has no legacy, so he'll want to come back. Sitting a year in your prime is suicide and you lose out on being able to rack up stats during that year.

His HOF potential would drop dramatically.

I'm not sure the rules if someone refuses to sign a tag and sits out. I'd think the tag is still usable the next year under the previous year's terms. If that's the case, he has zero leverage.
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Cope, I'm pretty sure the "TAG" carries over till it is honored by the player otherwise all players would jump ship. Just like Martavious Bryant's extra year as he wasn't able to honor the full
rookie contract due to sitting out. I know his sit out was mandatory but Bell falls under the same surmize as to not fulfilling the obligation. He can ask for all he wants but the CBA has
determined this obligation / rights to a player.

Your plan is SPOT on and that is exactly how I would address this. Thank You



Salute the nation
 
He's the best RB in the game, it's not all that close. Once the season is over the Steelers will address it. He has the suspension in his past, he's followed the protocol, but he is still one oops from significant time off. He did that to himself, and it's a part of the bargaining. If he has a good playoff run and says the right things from here out then we'll see what happens. If it were me I would make him a legitimate offer again to be the highest paid RB in the game. If that's not good enough for him, call his bluff and tag him. The Steelers have all the leverage, business is business.
 
I have no problem the Steelers increasing their offer. Not enough to break the bank of course. You increase the offer by 20%, backload it, give him a bigger signing bonus. Then trade him if he then still refuses.
 
He has to sign the franchise tender for them to trade him.
 
Steelerfan81 said:
He has to sign the franchise tender for them to trade him.
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I get that but what he says he doing is trying to raise the RB position salary. In today's NFL, the running back is less needed than ever before so it will make it tough to put a value that high ion the RB position. True, Bell is a special player but not even the UPPER 5 are worth that salary on an everyday basis. I'm not a cap specialist but don't mortgage the farm for one player, especially for one that has been well used to this point. RAVENS 101. Now if he can agree to what the team deems fair, then I'd pay him, last year's offer was pretty good and as slash said, maybe a 20% raise and bonus with 2-yr guarantee or something in that neck of woods. YOUR thoughts?




Salute the nation


Salute the nation
 
One of the most infuriating players to ever wear a Steeler uniform.
 
First the Steelers overuse Bell. Some of his numbers come from pure workload. He does not get spelled near enough and I do not understand why? I would give him a maximum of 3 yrs with a backloaded contract. Not sure how signing bonuses work, but if he walks early and signing bonuses count against us I would lower the bonus and pay more salary flat out. I would also not be opposed to trying for a trade. Maybe we could sign him to a 1 year deal with the promise of a trade so he can negotiate a new contract with them. Bell has a lot of wear and significant injuries. I think he has about 3yrs left in his prime at most. With his style if he loses his initial burst he will be toast. If we can trade him we could get some good value
 
Drink IRON City said:
Cope, I'm pretty sure the "TAG" carries over till it is honored by the player otherwise all players would jump ship. Just like Martavious Bryant's extra year as he wasn't able to honor the full
rookie contract due to sitting out. I know his sit out was mandatory but Bell falls under the same surmize as to not fulfilling the obligation. He can ask for all he wants but the CBA has
determined this obligation / rights to a player.

Your plan is SPOT on and that is exactly how I would address this. Thank You



Salute the nation
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I think precipitation is up to the player though. They can hold out, but an entire year would be foolish, because the team would retain the original tag since they didn't pay it. I'm not sure if an unsigned tag counts as an official tag if the player doesn't get paid on it. The only rule that applies there would be you can't tag any player more than 3 times.

But back to if Bell decides to hold out, he can sit out the first 12 games, but has to play the last 4 if he wants to be a FA or tagged again, which the Steelers wouldn't do.

One final interesting fact I found about non-exclusive tags, they only be traded before July 15. Which means teams can make that tag offer after the 18' draft and the 2 first round picks would be applied to 19 and 20. That would change a lot of plans we have here about getting Barkley...
 
FAB802 said:
He's the best RB in the game, it's not all that close. Once the season is over the Steelers will address it. He has the suspension in his past, he's followed the protocol, but he is still one oops from significant time off. He did that to himself, and it's a part of the bargaining. If he has a good playoff run and says the right things from here out then we'll see what happens. If it were me I would make him a legitimate offer again to be the highest paid RB in the game. If that's not good enough for him, call his bluff and tag him. The Steelers have all the leverage, business is business.
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That plus this is only the second time in five years that he played a full season so his durability and availability is questionable when it comes to getting big money.
 
There is a real issue of fairness here but it really isnt about reseting the rb market. The problem as I see is this. They fixed the problem with rookie contracts as it pertains to QBs Recievers and Tackles. It wasnt right that a guy who never played a down got this stupid contract. However, running backs got caught in the wash. While a qb, wr ot tackle gets his second contract and even sometimes a third, the running back is 2/3 used up after his rookie deal. Teams dont pay for what they got in the past. About the only thing that could be done is a rookie running back is a restricted FA after two seasons and unrestricted after 3.
 
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Go into the offseason with trade in mind. Get value out of him. Let contract negotiation be some other teams problem. Use high draft pick on rb.
 
We can't trade him unless he has some kind of contact with us right?
 
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