Steelers have Franchise tagged Bell

NFL.com list one time for his combine..... 4.60. I didn't pick anything but used the Only time listed.

 

Not knowing if Ben is coming back or not we had to get Bell signed one way or another..The tag gives more time to work on a deal..

 

Bell missed the 1st 3 games. We win the 1st two, DWill played well then we hit a buzz saw in Philly. Wentz embarrassed our D.... Ben sucked going about 50% comp. with an int and 2 fumbles ... DWill touched the ball only 8 times.

My point about the 40 is Bell while having exceptional vision and quick cuts is slow....

In 2016 bell had 261 carries with a long of 44 and only 4 over 20yds. In a shorten 15' preinjury 113 carries with 8 over 20yds and a long of only 42.

McCoy , in Buffalo, in 16' had 234 carries with a long of 75 and 11 carries over 20yds. In 15' 113 carries and still 6 over 20yds and a long of 48.

McCoy 8mil per... Bell 12

Again we really had no choice with no real RB backups and the Market bidding war potential driving up his price.

Cajun

 

While the tag does give more time to possibly sign Bell to a long term deal it also sets the starting salary too high imho...

It's just silly to think Ben wasn't coming back...... No way he gives up a 20 mil$ paycheck but also must write a 18mil. $ check back to the team..... Over 35 mil swing.....

Cajun

 

It just depends on how beat up he is ..His wife has money as well the longer he takes to say he is coming back the greater the chance he may not...

 

His wife???? Really? It would take her 100 yrs working full time to make up the difference of the Money Ben would lose if he'd retired now ....

And that's just this years money..

Cajun

 

It comes down to live off 50 Million or 90 Million ...How much is his long term health worth Ben doesn't have to play to be rich the rest of his life...My point was his wife has made enough money that most people could retire on as well..Ben's net worth is estimated at 70 Mil so he can give back 16 and still be in great shape...

 

Vikings announced they won't pick up Peterson's option so that should drop Bell's total down to 8.5 million for the year while they work towards an extension.

 

I am not saying Dwill didn't play good I am saying we are a different offense with Bell. That is what makes Bell so valuable to this team, no way are we better with Dwill.

As for the point about his vision and 40 time, my opinion is it has no bearing on this contract. the 40 time has nothing to do with what Bell has done as a pro.

Now onto McCoy not sure what your point is but please don't leave out the fact that bell also has 75 rec on 95 targets with 616 yards while McCoy had 50 rec on 57 targets for 356 yards. Yeah he cost 4 mil more but have you ever saw a contract do down? They go up every year so your going to have to pay more no that he is a FA.

I agree we had no choice but a lot of that is cause Bell is that good.

 

And Jamaal Charles and his 8 mil contract( he's a top 5 salaried RB ) has been released ...

Cajun

 

The reason why Bell franchise is dumb is because:
- The least amount of value is to franchise a RB.
-After Adrian Peterson and Jamaal Charles get released the price of Bell's franchise doesn't drop.
- By franchising him, they are setting the guarantee for him at approaching $30 mill minimum, which is a ton for a RB, particularly one with injury history and a lot of miles on his young legs. And base salary will now be well over $10m a year.
The Steelers should have made a deal with him after he got suspended. Steelers fans would have been up in arms, but it's the smartest move. It would have significantly decreased the amount of risk.
Since they didn't do that, they should have been aggressive in making a deal with him and get a contract in the $10m range with $20m guaranteed
Barring that, transition tag him. It would have cost $10m.
You could see this coming a year ago. Stupid then and stupid now.

 

We're STILL risking signing a guy who got suspended, aren't we??
Let's look at the risk/reward:
Sign him while suspended for $10 mill guaranteed.... If we're wrong we lose $10 million, if we're right we get the best RB in the NFL for half price.

 

2016 top 7 RBs

Elliott............ 1631 total yds...5.1 avg...........60long......14 carries 20+yds
J.Howard.........1313 total yds...5.2 avg..........69 long...... 10 20+yd carries
D.Murray.........1287 Total yds...4.4 avg...........75 long.....4 20+yd carries
J Ajayi............1272 total yds...4.9avg............62 long........10 20+ yd carries
Bell................1268 total yds... 4.9 avg...........44 long........4 20+yd carries
McCoy.............1267 total yds... 5.4avg............75 long.......11 20+yd carries
David Johnson.. 1239 total yds... 4.2 avg............58long.......6 20+yd carries

As you can see his Production is NOT off the Charts!!!! In fact He's barely top 5 and his explosive Numbers ( long carry and 20+yd carries) has him at the bottom of the top 7. Maybe because he's slow in the open field, can't outrun DB's or LBers.

Now his Fran tag has him being paid 4mil more per year than the SECOND highest paid RB. Worth every penny?

I like Bell, alot! I think he's a solid RB talent with great vision and very good Hands. I even think, as stated earlier we had to have tagged him because we have no other options at RB. We are over paying, because we have to, and that will hurt us in the FA Market and with our own future signings.

Cajun-

 

Let's look at what you said:
1. When the highest paid RB is getting $8.5 mill per year, you're saying Bell would have gotten $15 mill per year? REALLY? REALLY?

2. Name one team that has announced they would pay Bell $12 mill per year for a multi year contract.

3. Even if teams are lined up to pay $12 mill per year, they weren't lined up back when he was suspended. His market value was lower. Sign him then. That's what I'm saying.

 

Tagging a player doesn't 'just give them time to sign a new contract'. It goes a long way toward establishing the guaranteed money that will be in that long term deal as CAJUNYANKEE wisely pointed out.
You and I are going to see that here in Arizona soon with Chandler Jones.

 

1. Yes that is what I am saying....15 mil, like what was posted above look at the teams and salary space. The freakin Clowns have 100 mil of space you don't think they would offer more and they would have to for Bell to go there, a lot more. The Clown are justy one team of many "bad" teams that always have to over pay for talent. It happens every year, also you think contracts go down every year for top stars? No they go up and that is why I said he would have gotten 15 mil.

2. I can't name one team cause if it were public that would be called tampering and teams lose draft picks for that. If you think there isn't a team that wouldn't give him a contract worth that then you haven't been watching much.

3. They weren't lined up cause he wasn't a free agent, come on man how is a team gonna sign a guy we have under contract. I get what you and others are saying about signing him when suspended but that isn't the Steeler way and I wouldn't want them to do that. Also if you think his agent is going to allow Bell to take less your nuts, the agent will tell him to do what he just did. Play to set the market which he did.......

 

I guess the guys at ESPN don't agree:

Bell, 25, stated his case as the game's best running back during an explosive 2016 season in which he averaged 157 yards from scrimmage per game, the third-best clip ever for a running back.

The Steelers rode Bell into the postseason. They fed him the ball 31.8 times per game rushing or receiving over the final eight games he finished -- all wins, with two coming in the playoffs.

While racking up yards, Bell earned MVP consideration and national acclaim for a patient yet effective running style that showed that running backs don't have to hit the hole right away. In the process, Bell broke Franco Harris' regular-season and postseason single-game rushing records.

ESPN's Jeremy Fowler contributed to this report.

 

With AP and Jamaal Charles getting cut, it seems to me the RB market price is going down, not up.

 

Agree with all that Bell has great instincts and quickness, but at the same time lacks straight out speed. Without knowing his speed, I do know that he gets caught from behind a lot and I think he will never break a long one due to his lack of speed. Still a great back but the weakness is his outright speed.

If he did have breakaway speed he could be the best back ever, but he doesn't. As a receiver it's the same, he has good hands and runs good routes, but very limited on YAC because of lack of speed.

 

All it takes is first downs baby! Move that chain!

 

Honestly, I don`t get into thinking about the financial part of the game, because it pisses me off, and I don`t try to play "general manager", on "season mode" of whatever the most current version of "NFL Madden" is..

But this seems like a logical move.

We gave ourselves time to negotiate a long term contract, with one of the best rb`s we`ve ever had(and that`s saying something, considering who has worn the Black n Gold before him) ...

I`m not sure if a long term deal for a rb is smart, or not...

They take a pounding..

But if you look at what he can do on the field, and how much better we are (win/loss wise) when he is on the field, compared to when he`s not...

He seems worth the money, to me.

Yeah, it`s a gamble if he will get suspended/injured, but you can say that about ANY player in the league.

I think we did a good thing.

Time will tell...

Yeah, we have a ton of money tied up in our "3 B`s", but when they are on the field together, we usually win.

Hopefully, we can find money to keep the young Defense together, and keep the rest of the team together, that came 1 game away from the SB last year.

The guys the Rooney`s hired to evaluate talent, and pay it, seem to be doin pretty good, to me.

I will leave it in their hands, and have faith.

GO STEELERS!!!

 

Yards yards.... He had 7 TD's..... There were 14 other RB with 8 TDs rushing or more!!! Many in double figures!! 3 others also had 7 rushing TDs!!

Yes he's getting yds and moving the chains but rarely scores and never breaks one. His yds per game is due to his heavy workload and OUR OL!!!

Cajun