DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2018 NFL Season Looking Back: Browns 21 Steelers 21 Le'Veon Bell Not With Steelers

Listen to what Bell's Steelers teammates are saying about him, especially the offensive lineman why asked why one of the other linemen, who makes a fraction of what Bell makes, should risk himself blocking for him.

If an owner doesn't fulfill a contract ... which players know will likely happen with some of the balloon deals they sign, then the player has the option to renegotiate, or become a free agent.

You're right, that I am not in the top 1% with my abilities .... and if it requires an attitude like that, frankly, I'm glad. Besides, I have no idea what I'd ever do with that much money.

So wait, because the players know it will happen it's okay to do?

Also, as we are seeing, the players have the option of holding out. It works (hello Khalil Mack, Darrelle Revis, and many more).

Yes ... the stilers would be very wise to run him into the ground this year ...

Why oh why would they want him as fresh and possible for the playoffs ... naaaa ... lets run him into the ground instead ... WE’LL SHOW HIM ...

Well. I guess he can sit for a year and not get paid. Then try the free agent route, with his history of sitting. It might work out great for him. It might not work out at all for him.

His choice, his risk. Doesn't affect me.

The Steelers should trade him, and get what they can while the gettin' is good.

[quote=kwhip
And didn't he flip the finger at a multi year $14M a year offer with a ton guaranteed? [/quote]

If Ian Rappaport is to be believed, no. The offer(s) made by Pittsburgh did not contain a percentage of guaranteed money that you'd expect for one of the best players in the league. I'm sure you know guaranteed money in the contract is typically the key provision that gets deals closed. Rappaport went on to say that the Steelers have a reputation of lowballing guarantees in their contracts.

That was in the team's control before the franchise tag was put on Bell. Now they have what they have. I'm not feeling the slightest outrage toward Bell for a situation the team could have addressed during the negotiation window.

is he tradeable yet? would he have to sign his tender

He would have been the highest paid back in the league by a substantial margin and he spit it back in their faces. The sooner he is out of town the better as far as team chemistry and morale goes. He's a huge distraction and a negative influence on everybody. Teammates don't publicly turn on you unless you are wayyyyyy out of line.

They started blasting him to reporters today. One was quoted today as saying "He f-----d us" when asked about Bell.

I hope not, I want to see him and them crash and burn.

Bell is trying to change the game when it comes to RB contract deals...

I respect him for it.

would you respect him as much if he was on the Browns?

He's showing them how not to get paid. I don't recall the Steelers being big time butt kissers or misusing their money. They'll let him sit.

Yes. I wouldn't like it bc we'd need a talent like his to win games, but I'd be the first on twitter with that @Browns saying #paytheman



Time will tell.

fair enough. I hope they can do OK with Conner/Samuels/Ridley

j/c


I have to wonder if he knows what he's doing as far as being a team mate, as opposed to a diva.


If the O line men are already talking about him, he may find his hiney in trouble if he ever does show up. Let's face it: He doesn't get those yards if the O line isn't blocking for him - and it does sound like some on the o line are saying "dude makes twice as much as me, if not more"0

Bell may be in for a ringing. And tell me which team wants to get a diva at running back - a guy that may think he can sit out all camp, etc.












He's playing a huge game right now.

j/c:

How can any sane person expect Bell to only live on $14 million a year? He's being oppressed because of social justice issues.

I think the bigger issue with the team is I guess he hasn't told ANYONE anything.

I woulda just hit my teammates up, especially the offense to give them a heads up on my intentions during the regular season

His antics prove that he is not concerned with "team". He is concerned with himself. Great player or not, that type of attitude can stress a locker room.Even good teams struggle when the locker room is divided.

I'm sure he feels he is so good that him not showing is hurting the team. It's not like they are lowballing him. IMO, he is giving his teammates the finger, and putting himself above them.

If he shows up at the last minute, or a few weeks in and Tomlin caters to him or instantly puts him ahead of Connor, I feel the team could turn on Tomlin.

I was thinking today that he has been caught smoking weed before, maybe he can't come back right now for fear of failing a test.

The question I was clearly responding to was if Pittsburgh offered him a boatload of guaranteed money. Once again the answer to that question is no, they did not. The formula for the franchise tag amount is in the CBA, that's not up to the Steelers. When they could have offered him a multi-year deal they didn't want to put in the guaranteed dollars that would have gotten him to sign. Oh well...

I could care less how this affects the Steelers. They have a well-deserved reputation for being cheap. They seem to pride themselves on their cheapness. Fine by me! Live with it, own it! But your crocodile tears add up to wadd of wet Kleenex as far as I am concerned!

I disagree w/you on this one, bro.

I think Bell is harming himself more than the Steelers are harming themselves in this particular case.

All I'm saying is that his aversion to signing earlier was because of the structure of the contract. Rappaport said earlier today that when they were negotiating earlier this year they were close on the dollars per year number. The way the Steelers put together their contracts was not acceptable to Bell. That's how they ended up at this impasse.

Now, how he wants to go forward or not go forward is very little concern to me. The problem belongs to Bell and the Steelers. I got no emotion to invest in that!

As long a s he misses game one I don't care wat else happens....I'd be surprised if he does though...

Bro.............$14 million a year!!!

I yi yi yi....

I agree. He has missed training camp two years in a row. Is clearly holding out for ridiculous money, and is being trashed by his teammates. Even great players that are headcases tend to be moved.

j/c:

I just took James Conner in 2 daily fantasy leagues. That move allowed me to add Alvin Kamara and David Johnson.

Oh yeah!!!!

Come on man... that's the franchise tag number. Players want long-term financial deals, you know that. See Jarvis Landry, see Khalil Mack, see Aaron Donald, hell, see Aaron Rogers for that matter.

The Steelers are just as guilty as Bell for failing to come to a multi-year contract that provided the security that he was seeking.

But hey, I got no skin in the game. Both sides can go down in a heaping pile, I don't give a ...

For many of these guys, the overall value is what's important, because they want to be "the highest paid ever" ..... even if they realize that they will likely never see the final year of their deal. However, there is always the chance that they might .... like Earl Thomas ..... and them's the risks when you sign a contract.

Holding out does sometimes work for elite players at premium positions, but other times it doesn't. Tyrann Mathieu didn't want to take a pay cut in Arizona, and wound up being released. He wound up signing with Houston for less, and we'll see how that works out for him.

However, one thing is clear, and that the fact that these gigantic deals for guys who are not playing one of the premium positions are almost always "headed for a heartache". When the final year or 2 rolls around, and the big dollars kick in, the renegotiation dance begins.

I am almost always pro-player. But, I'm sorry bro...............I'm having a hard time supporting Bell on this one.

For everyone who doesn't want to support Bell, go into your boss's office tomorrow, ask for a 10-20% pay cut and then asked to be contracted out for the rest of the year with no guarantee of future employment.

14 mil a for this year sounds like a dream some people would kill for. But what happens when you look beyond your nose at the future? You're talking about an injury away from losing 15+ mil a year for the next few years. Not just this one year.

How can you speak on this subject when you even refuse to work and simply live off the taxes of others?

LMFAO WHAT?

fwiw, I run my own consulting company and have never lived off the taxes of others. This is extremely uncalled for.

"Only stupid people work for a living."

"Only stupid people work hard for a living."

If you're going to quote me out of context, at least do it right. The whole point of that post was that you'll make a lot more money in an office job than working the ground floor at Fed Ex or doing Demo. There were extra points about the benefits of creating your own business and investing, but this is the football forum and this thread has already gotten off topic enough, that I don't want to re-iterate them.

That's a real great argument.

OK, Not really.

However, if I sign an employment contract, I have to fulfill it, or I can face consequences. If I agree to work for $50,000/year, and that becomes a less than desirable salary, well, I agreed to it.

Maybe a person gives their best years to a company, and as they get older, the business decides to go with a younger option. That happens all too frequently. That person is then faced with trying to find a new job at a less than desirable age. It has happened to a friend of mine's wife. She's 62 or 63, I think, and lost a teaching job she's held for a number of years. (adult education) However, while she has her employment agreement, she did what she was to do, and so did the school. She worked, and taught, and they paid her.

Many people in private life don't get the pay cut option .... if they are no longer worth their salary, they are simply let go.

As far as injury, that's always a risk. Heck, he could work out for a team and suffer a career ending injury. He could get in an accident and have his career be at risk. He could suffer what happened to Bentley, and lose his career on the 1st snap of his new contract. Heck, if a player signs a new 4 year deal, and he decides that his $5 million 2nd year salary just isn't enough, should he then also hold out? Where is the line?

You guys can argue the logistics of Steelers and Bell, and Bell and the Steelers but at the end of the day... it's not our organizational fight and hopefully it won't be our fight come Sunday. Let's hope the drama drags out and he doesn't play week one.

Well, there are problems in this fixing of an analogy.

Bell didn't have a typical worker-employer agreement with his employer. Bell was mandated that he either had to work there or nowhere else. It's sort of like having a non-compete clause built in to your contract as well.

Also an employee making 50k dollars could easily attempt to renegotiate their contract and could even attempt to sit out of work, if they're that valuable enough to the company. It won't workout for everyone, but we all have our own ways to attempt to renegotiate with our own companies, however most of them happen through drastic measures.

Believe me, YTown, I know all too well about people giving their lives away to a company just for them to pull out. The recession was not that long ago. Some people never recovered. Although I have no idea what this has to do with Bell.

Yes, we could all die within a second of reading this post. However, planning our lives around such an act would be extremely foolish, because sometimes you have to plan for the long term. This is one of those cases.

Do prices on guys move in DFS? ... like Conner ... is his price today the same as it was Sunday ... is it the same today as it will be Friday when Bell’s ruled out?

I agree with this: The problem is for the Steelers and Bell, the only emotion I have invested in it is pleasure that it looks like a star player won't be with them moving forward.

And Bell is an absolute best, as both a runner and receiver, who is an absolute headache to try and stop. He's undoubtedly one of the best in the game.

Personally, I think Bell was in the wrong but now the Steelers are accountable too. He never wanted to do the franchise tag dance, and they've now done it for years. He'll be 27 next year: We're talking about a player whose NFL prime has now been wasted on a team who refused to make a long-term commitment. This not only hinders what long-term deal he can sign, but will likely assure this superstar never gets a legitimate NFL-prime, long-term deal. That's madness.

But, at the end of the day, it isn't our problem. Their dysfunction is a good thing for us. I hope. I'm sure worried this just gives them extra motivation for Sunday; "We'll show the world we don't need him" kind of thing.

What I do know: James Connor doesn't scare me as much as Le'Veon Bell.

Perspective dawgs perspective ....

I see NO PROBLEM here ... why do u ... *L*

Josh, now he’s a problem, this thing with Bell is a BLESSING ...

Perspective dawgs perspective ...

Its another glorious day on the Isle ...