By Mark Madden
August 20, 2017
The minute Le’Veon Bell got franchised, the end was written in stone: Bell would wait almost until preseason’s end to sign his tender and report, giving him just enough time to get ready for the Sept. 10 opener.
That’s still going to be the conclusion.
But there have been a few twists.
Bell has every right to delay his arrival. The Steelers exercised their end of the franchise option. Now Bell is exploiting his. If the Steelers wanted different, they should have worked out the long-term contract Bell desired.
That’s one of the twists: The Steelers say they did.
It was revealed Friday -- in a story obviously leaked by the Steelers -- that Bell’s agent, Adisa Bakari, allegedly agreed to a five-year deal worth $60 million, but Bell nixed it. Bell would reportedly have received $30 million over the pact’s first two seasons. (No word on how much money was guaranteed. That’s the key number.)
That narrative has some holes in it.
Bakari would not have agreed to a contract without first consulting Bell. No agent would.
Perhaps Bakari recommended Bell take the deal. That’s very different.
This story went public as an exclamation point to the Steelers getting increasingly antsy about Bell’s prolonged absence this preseason, something the Steelers seem illogically able to accept. It was always going to happen.
Owner Art Rooney and GM Kevin Colbert have whined about Bell not being there, and a few players have chimed in, too.
Would the Steelers lie about what Bell’s agent did?
Is Bruce Arians still retired?
Bakari says he never agreed to any deal. So it’s he-said, he-said. But this is a clear attempt by the Steelers to turn public sentiment against Bell.
Bell seems determined to stick to his demand for $15 million per season, memorably first negotiated in one of Bell’s really awful rap songs: “I’m at the top, and if not, I’m the closest. I’m a need 15 a year and they know this.”
I’m a throw up now.
Can Bell really ever make $15 million per?
He might come close next season. Given Bell’s demands and the growing bad blood, it seems increasingly possible that the Steelers might again franchise Bell in 2018, paying him over $14 million and then propelling Bell into free agency.
The Steelers really like James Conner, the rookie out of Pitt.
Bell’s versatility makes him the prototype for the running back position in today’s NFL. But Conner is the prototype for what the Steelers prefer a back to be: Big and bruising.
At 6-foot-2, 229 pounds, Conner invokes Jerome Bettis Lite. All Conner needs is a catchy nickname.
Despite the histrionics, this episode will conclude like it was always going to: Bell reports just in time to start the opener.
Unless Bell doesn’t start the opener.
The Steelers play at Cleveland in Week 1. Cleveland will be the AFC Central’s doormat and one of the NFL’s worst teams.
It would be just like Mike Tomlin, the Steelers’ coach, to say that Conner had “gone through the process” (or some such drivel) and start him at Cleveland. The Browns are bad, so a point could be made
Whatever that point might be.
Problem is, Tomlin’s Steelers too often lose to bad teams.
All this is a boon to the sports-talk business. If Bell starts poorly, Yinzer Nation goes insane and my industry gets a second helping.
None of this will hurt the Steelers’ season. Unless it does.
The real upshot occurs after the 2018 season, when Bell quits the Steelers and moves on. But his wheels will likely have fallen off by then.
Given Bell’s history of injuries and drug suspensions, that was probably the Steelers’ plan all along.
Mark Madden hosts a radio show 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WXDX-FM (105.9).
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