Steelers Negotiating with Bell; Personal Reasons Caused Late Arrival

[Steeler Nation]

The Steelers and Le’Veon Bell could be close to a deal that would keep the running back in black and gold for the long term. Bell told reporters that the Steelers have already presented him with an offer and that the two sides are ‘much closer’ to a deal than they were last offseason.

He […]

The post Steelers Negotiating with Bell; Personal Reasons Caused Late Arrival appeared first on SteelerNation.com.


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[Steelerfan81]

Steelers aren't trading him to Cleveland.

 

[TDX27]

Not sure how I feel about that. If they presented something to him that is closer than what they offered him last year, it has to at least $14 million per year and based on Bell's demands, it would need to be north of $15 million per. They offered him north of $12 million per last year. I still just can't see it.

I read an article the other day that if they did a 3 year deal, this year would be cap friendly but the last 2 years would be $18+ million cap hits. That's just not feasible. That is QB money. The deal would have to be 4 and probably 5 years, which would put Bell in the period where most RB's decline. Again, the last 3 years of the deal, the cap hits would be north of $15 million with the last year probably near $20 million. That is a lot of money to sink into a guy that isn't a QB. I sure hope they have ways to get out of the deal and not kill the cap in years 3 through 5. And, I hope they have ways to make the cap space for this deal to even happen along with signing a starting ILB and/or SS.

Plus, they need a 2nd back on the team that can be our short yardage back. Bell hasn't proven he is that guy. Then again, we haven't been calling plays on 3rd or 4th and short where Bell takes the ball and just hits the hole quick.

 

[Spike]

#1 RB in the league? Pay the man. Give Ben all his weapons and go for 40+ points a game...it's our only hope

The defense is broken beyond repair, don't even waste a dime of a draft pick on it

it will take a decade to move to a 4-3 with a new defensive coach and get an all new starting DL and LBs to be effective again

 

[Coryea]

I'm torn as well, the guy is so good, but look at the numbers Williams put up here in 2015 in 10 starts.

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[Tibs]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Le'Veon Bell says he had personal reasons for being late to walk through and coaching staff was aware.</p>— Kevin Patra (@kpatra) <a href="https://twitter.com/kpatra/status/956206876907266050?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Hmmm, personal reasons? Whatever in the world could that be? /jk

 

[Tibs]

Btw I'd love to have Bell back on a reasonable deal. Who wouldn't want the best back in the NFL in black & gold? All I care about is that we don't overpay him and more importantly, that he ******* wants to be here.

 

[JMM]

 

[nitsuj1225]

Btw I'd love to have Bell back on a reasonable deal. Who wouldn't want the best back in the NFL in black & gold? All I care about is that we don't overpay him and more importantly, that he ******* wants to be here.

He wants to be wherever will pay him close to what he wants paid. We do that, he'll want to stay.

He doesn't strike me as a "loyal" guy who would take less just to stay in Pittsburgh. What most of those guys realize after it's too late is the grass isn't always greener.

 

[Ike Kelly]

Sheesh....how about we waiting until what the deal will be before griping about it. KC and Omar do a good job with the contracts.


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[Sarge]

#1 RB in the league? Pay the man. Give Ben all his weapons and go for 40+ points a game...it's our only hope

The defense is broken beyond repair, don't even waste a dime of a draft pick on it

it will take a decade to move to a 4-3 with a new defensive coach and get an all new starting DL and LBs to be effective again

Seems Ben had all his weapons, and we hung 40+ on the Jags. For all the more good it did.

 

[Spike]

Seems Ben had all his weapons, and we hung 40+ on the Jags. For all the more good it did.

It's a miracle we were even in the game after the defense couldn't stop the run OR the pass.

See the future there? I knew you could.

 

[21STEELERS21]

Any deal would be at least 5 and maybe 6 years, that allows the team to spread the signing bonus, which will be large,
out longer. Doesn't mean he stays with the team that long, if his production drops off, he gets released and you save
the out years salaries. You would have dead money for the remaining signing bonus.

Since Bell played an injury free year, Steelers might be willing to go larger on the signing bonus this year. Upfront money
might make the overall demand lower.

If Ben plays 3 more years, his salary will come off the books and will be replaced with a QB on lower salary, that makes Bell affordable in
the out years if he keeps his production up.

 

[BLITZ]

I am torn with this. sign him long term and our offense will be awesome until Ben retires. Sign him trade him and we could shore up our defense a lot faster and still have a pretty awesome offense. I am glad I am not the one making the call on this

 

[Tibs]

Seems Ben had all his weapons, and we hung 40+ on the Jags. For all the more good it did.

Agreed. Time to get busy shoring up this defense by any means possible, be it trades, FA and the draft. The offense should transition well to Fichtner & Ben running the show. I presume things will be a bit smoother without Haley's distractions and his penchant to out-think himself. If Bell's back the firepower will be top shelf for the next few years. There is no good reason Colbert shouldn't focus completely on the defense at this stage. Saying the opposite is pure madness and delirium.

 

[Stryker]

#1 RB in the league? Pay the man. Give Ben all his weapons and go for 40+ points a game...it's our only hope

The defense is broken beyond repair, don't even waste a dime of a draft pick on it

it will take a decade to move to a 4-3 with a new defensive coach and get an all new starting DL and LBs to be effective again

40 points a game, aint winning us any playoff games...

 

[Spike]

40 points a game, aint winning us any playoff games...

The only way to fix the defense is to get two new safeties, two new ILB's, two new DL bodies and a new starting OLB - that should only take us 5 years or so.

derp

 

[JMM]

Not a problem..Have it ready by next Thursday

 

[Tibs]

The only way to fix the defense is to get two new safeties, two new ILB's, two new DL bodies and a new starting OLB - that should only take us 5 years or so.

Sure you can shoot for the stars, but to have a serviceable defense that can stop the run & get off the field on 3rd downs (and win playoff games) it's more like:

1 new ILB to pair with Williams
1 new NT
1 new safety to pair with Davis

And some added depth at all positions.

That's something that can realistically get done this off-season.

I'm presuming our corners hold up (we have decent depth), that Davis & Dupree take significant strides (and Bud learns to keep his damn trap shut) and Watt continues to improve in his 2nd season. I doubt we could do better than Tuitt & Cam at DE, they just had a weak showing vs. Jags for whatever reason.

And for the love of God, figure out the defensive schemes and coaching hierarchy. Whatever Tomlin and Butler have been experimenting with, pinpoint what works best and roll with it. I'd love to see a new linebacker coach to replace Porter/Olslavksy and a new DB coach instead of Lake, but those moves don't seem likely.

Outside of that, the only other big hole I see is in the return game. Bryant looked pretty sweet running back kicks but they yanked him soon thereafter. Would be nice to have PR/KR who's a legitimate threat, who can be sprinkled on O from time to time.

Anyway, I don't think we're that far off on D. Nor do I think rebuilding this defense is that huge of a challenge this off-season. I wish Colbert the best.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

40 points a game, aint winning us any playoff games...

Boom. Mike drop. Walk off.

1 new ILB to pair with Williams
1 new NT
1 new safety to pair with Davis

Except that Tombert has shown an amazing failure to draft and/or develop good defensive talent.

 

[Tibs]

Except that Tombert has shown an amazing failure to draft and/or develop good defensive talent.

You don't consider:

Burns
Davis
Tuitt
Heyward
Dupree
Williams
Hargrave
Watt
Shazier
Sutton
Hilton

good defensive talent? I do. The parts don't always fit, the scheme seems ill-concieved at times and there are certainly some holes to fill, but I'm not ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I know we didn't draft Hilton, but they did develop him. Dupree for sure needs to step it up in a big way. Sean Davis needs to be more consistant, as does Burns. Hargrave is miscast as an early down NT. But to say we have no talent on this D is a hyperbole, to say the least.

 

[Steelerfan81]

Boom. Mike drop. Walk off.



Except that Tombert has shown an amazing failure to draft and/or develop good defensive talent.

Couple failed draft picks. Jarvis mainly shine to big of a light. They've often waited until late rounds to take defensive players who have ended up failing. Those players have a very low percentage of working out to begin with.

Davis didn't have a very good season in my opinion, but he still led the team in tackles. Put a good FS next to him and maybe he doesn't have to do 'too much'.

Hargrave, and Burns have been and are still developing. Both are very young. Hilton has been a diamond in the rough. Vince Williams was a sixth round pick.

 

[slashsteel]

Btw I'd love to have Bell back on a reasonable deal. Who wouldn't want the best back in the NFL in black & gold? All I care about is that we don't overpay him and more importantly, that he ******* wants to be here.

On Wednesday, however, Bell made it really sound like he expects to sign a new long-term deal prior to the Steelers placing the franchise tag on him.

“We’ll definitely get it don.e before then,” Bell said. “We can definitely do that. That’s the goal. That’s what I want to do. Both sides are still working and trying to make things work. They may have to give a little. I might have to give a little. But the biggest thing is I want to be a Steeler going into next season. That’s what I want to do

Bell will be signed before the tag , good news..............

 

[SteelChip]

The parts don't always fit, the scheme seems ill-concieved at times and there are certainly some holes to fill, but I'm not ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Me neither Tibsy....I'm not sure we need allotta new players here.

There's a couple gaps that need filled fur shur. Mitchell needs to go imo, and that isn't insurmountable, remember a cheap fix we scored years back.?

Ryan Clark: Like Donnie Shell many years before, Ryan Clark failed to get drafted during the process of 2002. Instead, he signed as a rookie free agent with the New York Giants. After two seasons in New York where he started only four games, Clark went to the Washington Redskins as again a free agent. Despite wanting to keep his career in Washington, the ‘Skins released Clark following the 2005 season and he found a home in Pittsburgh.

It's not like we are axin' for a savior, just a player or two. If Shazier is gone then we will need speed in the middle, we are not tryin' to replace a Troy Boy here, just a good ILBer with some speed. You draftniks should have that **** covered a couple times over. After that, we can try to fill weak spots but if the "villain Bill" were to have to go with what we have, he may have a way to make it work and we could probably learn to make do with our present talent if we had some solid coaching...jus sayin'.

I'm not thinkin' that we are that bad off, just need some direction and co-ordination.

Use what we got for what we got instead of what we want....ya know ?

 

[slashsteel]

You don't consider:

Burns
Davis
Tuitt
Heyward
Dupree
Williams
Hargrave
Watt
Shazier
Sutton
Hilton

good defensive talent? I do. The parts don't always fit, the scheme seems ill-concieved at times and there are certainly some holes to fill, but I'm not ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I know we didn't draft Hilton, but they did develop him. Dupree for sure needs to step it up in a big way. Sean Davis needs to be more consistant, as does Burns. Hargrave is miscast as an early down NT. But to say we have no talent on this D is a hyperbole, to say the least.

inconsistent can be good one second and not good the next. Highlighted are those players.