Steelers want Bell for life

I am thinking he is just like the rest of us and wants to get the most he can, where is the crime in that? People he is in a negotiation what is he suppose to do start at 5 mil and go up? I had seen an interview on the NFL network where Bell said he wanted more guaranteed money and I think that is where the problem is not the size of the contract. jmo

 

Crickets...

 

Your willing to go 15M, well thats 75M on a 5 year deal at a position that is the most injury prone on the team:

Jun 13, 2017 from statistica - Shortest Careers. The shortest careers among NFL players tends to be those who hit and get hit the most during games and practice. Running backs have the shortest average careers of just 2.57 years.

 

He posted this on his FB page last night:

use the game, don’t let the game use youu

Not sure we can read anything into that, but doesn't sound like there's a lot of compromise in his position. This may not end well.

 

Nope I have said many times before in many posts you and I go back and forth on about this I would do 4yr 60m! Oh and don't forget we are paying him like 2 players so double them years his avg career is now 5 years,

Also since he just finished his 4th season I guess he is ahead of the game. Forte is just retiring after a 10 year career, hmm another stat beater. Wait a minute isn't there more good running backs that played more than 2.57 years....McCoy, Freeman, Lynch Gore, Ingram, Blount, Stewart, Murray....yep found em.

The fact of the matter is Bell is damn good, I would rather not pay 15 for him but if that is what it will take to keep him yeah I want him for 4 years cause he does so much for this offense. You will need to replace him with 2 if not more players and then you don't even know if they could replace him. What I do know and what id fact is with Bell we are damn good and with Ben only have 2 years left I am all in and not risking taking a step back on offense when our defense is so bad. Now don't go and say Bell money can be add to fix the D, cause I have already pointed out how we can sign a ILB and a S and still have Bell. jmo

 

If we tag him we need to draft a guy like Penny, Freeman or Ballage. Someone who has Bells skill set, someone who can learn a year from Bell and set in next year and let Bell take his act some place else. I am just not ready to see him gone this year, we didn't set our self up last year to live without him this year. I didn't like the Conner pick last season as I didn't feel he was the kind of back to replace Bell, jmo. There were many backs in this draft that could have fit Bells skill set and had a year to learn the system giving us more comfort in the Bell negotiations this year.

As far as the hold out thing I feel it is a bigger problem with us fans than it is with the team. Yeah he misses reps but IMO this will not make or break him. The distraction is what will make or break us, all the talking heads acting like they have all the answers why Bell didn't rush for 100 blah blah blah........I am not worried if he holds out he will be ready. I won't be happy about it I would rather him be here but I can't change that and I know that as a fan we are a better team with Bell even sitting out training camp. I do get it we are Steeler fan and a very proud bunch and don't like these things happening but times have changed and so has the way things are done. Just look we use to be a feared defensive team with a ground and pound rush attack. Now we are a wet paper towel defense with an air it out offense. Change may friends it happens you can accept it or cry about it but you can't change it.

 

The combine is featuring running backs, Oline, and special teamers tomorrow, so you can watch the backs and get a feel for the ones who will move up in the draft and who will drop a round or two....

 

Or like Colbert has just said maybe have a deal in place with Bell by the 6th:

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...e-find-common-ground-leveon-bell-new-contract

Kinda funny how I have been the main guy here sticking up for Bell and then read this:

Bell's appreciation for Steeler Nation is certainly mutual, as 78 percent of Steelers' fans voted for the team to sign Bell to a longterm deal in a poll recently conducted by Pittsburgh Steelers on 247Sports

Wish that 78% posted here, lol

https://247sports.com/nfl/pittsburg...his-appreciation-for-Steeler-Nation-115636195

 

what he said. well except for the knew information. i get new information.

 

LMAO, I am very open when I go back and forth but when people don't want to sign a guy cause he ran his mouth or held out or wants more money or the best cause he could get injured that won't move me. Like you said he is an amazing talent who backs it up, that is key. IMO, if he was playing for the money he would have not played like he did last year since he was playing on the tag. He didn't do that he played his butt off and he knew if he got hurt it could cost him a ton of money, to me that is not a greedy player. He is running his mouth cause he is trying to negotiate that is how it gets done a lot of the time now days. Put a mic in front of these young guys and what do you expect? jmo

I can remember going back and forth with people the first few weeks about Bell being rusty. I did not see it and the one point I kept bring up was 2 years ago he was here the whole training camp and he had 5 straight games where he rush for under 100, some well under but nobody brought up rust then. These guys play football for a living and these young guys eat sleep and drink football imo missing a few weeks insn't gonna hurt them. Now a guy like Ben who may need the reps I will agree with or a rookie who needs every snap to learn I will say yeah, but not Bell a vet who is in the same offense. jmo

 

I am not disputing that and I agree you do need training camp but my point is nobody said he was rusty when in 2016 he had a stretch of bad games but this year he gets off to a bad start and everyone wants to blame the hold out. I do not believe that go back and watch the film the whole team played bad not just the one guy who sat out. Also do you think people just sit around for 7 months, these guys work out all year long they are in shape otherwise they could not perform like they do. Yes they need a little pad popping but it is not the end of the work they just don't lose a step cause they missed 3 weeks of camp. Sorry these guys are pro athletes is does matter how long they have played, when you are Bells age it don't take much to get into football shape however when you are Ben's age it does.

 

Me too but don't want to waste time on that when it could be spent on draft prospects. I do remember when everyone was up in arms over him there was one play in the Bears game where they showed the play from behind the QB and you could see there was no hole and Bell stepped in and found something. But anyways like you say that was last year.

I am not saying he wasn't 100% that is dumb but my point I am making is people are acting like he missed camp and that was the reason why he was so bad. My point is he wasn't as bad as people are making it out and the whole team was bad, was he up to speed hell no but this kid is talented and it don't take much. When you do nothing but football and you are 22-26 with a boat load of talent the whole "football shape" thing gets over played imo.

Rookies need reps and game speed cause the NFL is so much faster you hear that all the time, vets need reps to get their body ready cause they don't bounce back like the youngsters. I can tell you from experience that Saturday and Sunday mornings are pretty rough now unlike 15 years ago when I party it up.

 

I am not usually one to say let good players walk over $, but I am with Bell at this point. I detest the tone that will be set if he sits out of camp. Just not a good way to start off. I'd rather draft a RB in rounds 2-3 and sign a decent FA.

 

I'd like to see how that poll was worded, because if it's worded like you wrote it....that 78% want to sign Bell long term....without setting any limits on cost, then you can count me in as one of those 78%.

Im all for them paying him $10M/yr. I'd even be uneasy with but could stomach $12M. But $15M? Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. No way, no how. See ya! Enjoy playing behind a **** O line with a **** QB, for a **** franchise, as you wreck your teams cap, become the sole focus on the offense, and watch the numbers drop, and the hits become harder and more frequent.

 

I hear ya and understand the feeling however my feeling is different. I don't feel as confident as a lot of you guys that we will have the same offense without Bell. With Ben being at the end I feel this would affect him as well, not to mention a big risk if it don't work out as that is yet another wasted year for Ben and there isn't many left. 15m is a ton of money and I hope that is not where we are at with him but is it worth 3m to replace Bell only to find out we take a step back on offense? Tick tock tick tock, hear that sound that is the sound of the window closing with Ben, let's get Bell signed and have the best offense in the NFL and fix the D and win #7 and maybe #8. jmo

 

Eh idk... the only reason justifying keeping him is because the defense is so putrid we need every offensive weapon possible to try to outscore everyone.

 

Let em know pouncy

 

Number 7 and #8 in your lifetime is a real stretch. JMO

 

Why do you say that? I know I am older that a lot here but I am not older than dirt........

 

That stat is a little misleading: RBs don't average 2.5 years because they are all toast in that span -some of the low year avg. is simply because they are not good enough to make a roster after a few years, like several of the backs we drafted. They weren't hurt, they just weren't very good: Chris Rainey, Redman, Baron Batch, John Dwyer, Frank Summers, Dri Archer, Cedric Humes, Carlos King. They all flamed out quickly but only because they were no good.