Steeler RB Le'Veon Bell reportedly to the Jets

Redman443 said:

4 years 52 mil

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So he just walked past $14M/year to get $13M/year?

He'll make a perfect Jete!

Zuma said:

PatsFans feed....

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Add in Brandon Bolden at RB as of today

So Bell forfeited a $14.5 MM year salary in 2018 to get a $13 MM/year deal now. Sounds like my financial advisor.

I think the league adjusted to Bells style. Still a major threat that has to be respected though. Not trying to say he’s not good

fightingirish595 said:

I think the league adjusted to Bells style.

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GodBrady said:

I'm not sure why @greggrosenthal is pushing this angle because it's a very superficial way of looking at it. The raw totals don't really mean anything. The guaranteed money is really all that matters.

How much he's going to make after 2 or 3 years in the Steelers deal is completely irrelevant if he tears his ACL or ruptures his Achillies in 2018. The Steelers would just cut him and he'd never see any of that money.

Nobody seems to have a clear answer on how much the Steelers offered him. There are multiple reports that have surfaced. I've seen some reports saying he was offered only ~$20M guaranteed, and I've other reports that the Steelers offered him ~$33M guaranteed.

I know people want to **** on Bell because he plays for the Jets now and we feel inclined to put a negative spin on it, but he did fine. He could've gambled on his health and made more, but it's clear that him and his agent cared most about setting a floor with guaranteed money.

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If the Steelers were only willing to Guarantee $20MM, then they either wanted Bell to leave or they know something we don't know. I have no way to make a conclusive argument that either is the case, so I'm inclined to believe the $33MM number. This means that Bell would still have left ~$14MM on the table to wait to sign a deal for $35MM guaranteed.

And, yes, injury risk is always part of the equation. A season or career can end with a non-contact injury on a practice field in Training Camp. But, on that logic, any player with one year left on a Contract would sit out if he can't get the extension he wants. In some cases, that might be a rational decision...in others, such as Bell's, not so much.

In the end, there wasn't much of a market for Bell at the payday he wanted. In fact, it sure looks like the Jets were the only bidder at that level.

You don't have to be a Jets hater to look objectively at that franchise's track record with talent (Darnold is the only notable recent exception) to think that many Front Offices took a "Look, but don't touch" approach to this guy, starting with the Steelers, the organization that knew him best.

So I stick to my original position.

GodBrady said:

I'm not sure why @greggrosenthal is pushing this angle because it's a very superficial way of looking at it. The raw totals don't really mean anything. The guaranteed money is really all that matters.

How much he's going to make after 2 or 3 years in the Steelers deal is completely irrelevant if he tears his ACL or ruptures his Achillies in 2018. The Steelers would just cut him and he'd never see any of that money.

Nobody seems to have a clear answer on how much the Steelers offered him. There are multiple reports that have surfaced. I've seen some reports saying he was offered only ~$20M guaranteed, and I've other reports that the Steelers offered him ~$33M guaranteed.

I know people want to **** on Bell because he plays for the Jets now and we feel inclined to put a negative spin on it, but he did fine. He could've gambled on his health and made more, but it's clear that him and his agent cared most about setting a floor with guaranteed money.

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According to nfl network, the Pitt deal would have given Bell 18mil guaranteed at the time of signing. The Jets deal gives him 28mil.

I understand Pat fans hating on any Jet move. That's only natural. What I don't understand is the hate for Bell on a national level. Is guaranteed money that difficult to understand?

Especially at a position where you get hit so often and you're considered over the hill at 30.

RBs have to get themselves a good deal quickly after their rookie deal is up.

The next CBA needs to address RBs particularly. You can't have teams drafting an elite talent like Bell, abuse the hell out of them on a cheap rookie deal (and perhaps a couple one year franchise deals), and then finally drop them to free agency in their late 20s when no team wants to give a big deal to an overworked RB.

PatsFanSince74 said:

If the Steelers were only willing to Guarantee $20MM, then they either wanted Bell to leave or they know something we don't know. I have no way to make a conclusive argument that either is the case, so I'm inclined to believe the $33MM number. This means that Bell would still have left ~$14MM on the table to wait to sign a deal for $35MM guaranteed.

And, yes, injury risk is always part of the equation. A season or career can end with a non-contact injury on a practice field in Training Camp. But, on that logic, any player with one year left on a Contract would sit out if he can't get the extension he wants. In some cases, that might be a rational decision...in others, such as Bell's, not so much.

In the end, there wasn't much of a market for Bell at the payday he wanted. In fact, it sure looks like the Jets were the only bidder at that level.

You don't have to be a Jets hater to look objectively at that franchise's track record with talent (Darnold is the only notable recent exception) to think that many Front Offices took a "Look, but don't touch" approach to this guy, starting with the Steelers, the organization that knew him best.

So I stick to my original position.

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Last summer it was reported that he was offered around 5 years, $70M with an uncertain amount guaranteed (some said as much as $30M+); his agent publicly disputed this:

“No matter what that final number was and I am certainly not saying that what has been reported is accurate because it’s not, quite frankly — the most important element of it is the guarantee,” Bakari said. “You couple that with the traditional way in which Pittsburgh does it’s deals, which, at the end of the day, nothing’s guaranteed after the first year.”

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Then, in October, ProFootballTalk reported more details:

And as to the notion that only $10 million would have been fully guaranteed, at a time when the 2018 franchise tender for Bell is $14.54 million, the package included a $10 million roster bonus due not long after signing, making the practical guarantee $20 million. The Steelers would have avoided that payment only by cutting Bell within days after giving him $10 million to sign.

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Source: Steelers offered Le’Veon Bell $47 million over three years

I'm guessing he was on the AB plan in Pittsburgh and really didn't want to be there. Just a guess.

tasmlab said:

So Bell forfeited a $14.5 MM year salary in 2018 to get a $13 MM/year deal now. Sounds like my financial advisor.

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I hate bell and that goes triple for the jete

Its possible that the Jets could have low balled Bell pretty hard because no other team wanted him. Sitting for a year didn’t “sit well” with owners and GMs around the league.

But then, they would have signed a problem. I agree with Skip Bayless, they had to give him a solid contract, if you are interested in Bell, on his services, do it alright with somewhat of a good compensation otherwise things could get messy pretty fast.

Its a good deal for the Jets, they need to address offense if they wanna make a jump, they have always been good in building defenses, offense on the other hand...now they have a QB who seems to be all right but needs help.

Deus Irae said:

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Wow. Take one statement out of context. I clearly said he’s still a good player. That would be because he’s a dynamic runner and pass catcher. But he just took a year off and he averaged under 4 ypc behind a very good oline. Not unreasonable to think the league adjusted to his patient running style.

JetFan79 said:

The next CBA needs to address RBs particularly. You can't have teams drafting an elite talent like Bell, abuse the hell out of them on a cheap rookie deal (and perhaps a couple one year franchise deals), and then finally drop them to free agency in their late 20s when no team wants to give a big deal to an overworked RB.

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I don’t think carving out provisions by position would really be in the players overall best interest. They need to work towards more/all guaranteed money (like MLB and NBA) not worry about a currently slightly devalued position group.

It’s cyclical, teams will value different things at different times. It’s also not like he was blacklisted, he left a lot of money on the table and bet on himself and the situation to work out for him. He still got paid, but he didn’t have all the options he imagined. If the players want to go after something in the CBA with respect to this situation it should be more guaranteed money as a general principle of contracts, and the franchise tag.

JetFan79 said:

The next CBA needs to address RBs particularly. You can't have teams drafting an elite talent like Bell, abuse the hell out of them on a cheap rookie deal (and perhaps a couple one year franchise deals), and then finally drop them to free agency in their late 20s when no team wants to give a big deal to an overworked RB.

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Flash said:

The Jets got better but they aren't good enough to challenge the division, likely another year of irrelevance unless Darnold takes a huge step forward.

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I think they got worse. They have Adam Gase now.

Ice_Ice_Brady said:

I think they got worse. They have Adam Gase now.

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The Jete potentially finishing 7-9, 8-8, 9-7 does not bother me in the slightest.

Tunescribe said:

The Jete potentially finishing 7-9, 8-8, 9-7 does not bother me in the slightest.

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No need to worry about that. This team is 6-10 at very best.

Ice_Ice_Brady said:

No need to worry about that. This team is 6-10 at very best.

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I hope you're right but I think they'll be better and could make the leap from bad to mediocre.

Tunescribe said:

I hope you're right but I think they'll be better and could make the leap from bad to mediocre.

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I think Darnold sucks and will not improve much, which is where I differ from the general opinion. You can’t fix accuracy problems, and he isn’t good at reading defenses.

Ice_Ice_Brady said:

I think Darnold sucks and will not improve much, which is where I differ from the general opinion. You can’t fix accuracy problems, and he isn’t good at reading defenses.

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Eh I think darnold can build off his rookie year. Bad line. Got that valuable experience. I don’t like judging until after year 3