Should the Steelers give LeVeon Bell a new contract?

I hate to say it, but I seriously doubt the Steelers are too worried about over-using Bell. If he was taking over-use injuries like muscle injuries or his effeciveness late in the season plummeted I think they would care more about that... It just hasn't happened. The knee thing two seasons ago was very minor. Would've only been a one game injury. This year's injury sucked, but it was more a freak accident by landing on his knee wrong.

It sounds bad, but the teams don't really care about the longevity of a players career. Especially when the player is so young. They care about winning games, and if Bell touching the ball 30 times wins games then that's what is going to happen.

IMO he's the best weapon on our team, so I don't see any reason to keep him on the bench too long. I don't want us to give him 40 touches or anything, but if he sees less than 85 percent of the RB touches in any game it's a travesty. He's too good.

 

Boykin wants to be a starter though. If he comes back he will have to compete with Golson, and I don't think he will be too enthused about that.

 

he was still ailing long after one week with that injury 2 years ago.

 

Of course we give him a new contract. He's good now & he's only gonna get better. Also, we need someone to help our new QB when Ben retires. We need someone we can count on to pick up the slack while the new guy goes through the growing pains all players do. We can't take a chance on someone else who could be a bust.

 

Pay the man!

 

The Steelers will probably attempt to extend Bell. Bell might want record setting or close to record setting guaranteed money. I don't believe the Steelers will offer Bell that kind of a deal. RB's are injured to often and probably have the shortest careers on average of any position in the NFL. It's difficult to pay RB's the kind of money they believe they are worth based on the high injury nature of the position.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Steelers draft a RB this year. Similar to what they did when they had Parker on the roster and drafted Mendenhall.

 

i think it would be difficult for a RB to last through ben and a new QB. we use bell a lot when he's healthy.

 

I like Bell, I think he's an elite back when healthy. If it's not a stupid deal, I'd be good with keeping him. I wait and see how he looks in training camp and if it looks like he's back I give him a 3 yr. extension. I don't give him top 3 money. I give him top 8 RB money. Somewhere between the Jamal Charles contract and Matt Forte. The top 5 RB contracts are bad deals, and If that's what Bell wants, I let someone else give it to him. The top 5 RB contracts are anywhere from $8-$14 million per/yr. I can get a damn good corner or safety for that. And either position would have more value for this team at the moment IMHO.

 

LeVeon's only 23 years old. BEST CASE:: Ben stays Ben for another 5 or 6 seasons. Lev will only be 28ish when we lose Ben. IF he can stay away from the injury bug, he'll only get better.

I think all the time away from Lev has made us look at these other guys like they would be good enough to replace him. This brought me back: the 1 full season he's had with us, he had 1361 yards on the ground & caught 83 passes for 854 more yards. That's crazy. I do think they should use both he & DeAngelo more. Since we have a guy like DeAngelo, there's no reason to put it al on Bell.

 

I don't think he'll break the bank. Between his stupid MJ moment and back to back injuries, he'd be pretty dumb to try arm tie the rooneys.

 

I'd pay him 8-9mil a year in a second. That's going to be just over half of what AB will get when he's due his money. He's definitely worth that kind of coin. I just can't see a team willing to spend 14mil on a RB. Any RB.

 

Difference between 100 percent and playable. Lots of guys play at less than 100 percent come playoff time. I'm not saying I know if he was ready to go or not, but I remember hearing that he was going to do everything he could to be able to play the next week. It was a bone bruise and a hyper extension. It's not like he tore an ACL.

 

AB's contract was reworked last year. He's already making close to what he'll get in a new contract. The Steelers moved around his bonus money and in 2016 AB will make $12 million I think. $2million shy of Dez Bryant money. Slightly underpaid, bot not grossly.

Don't get me wrong I like Bell. But I'm just not seeing a significant drop in offensive production without him. This is all assuming that we'd have a capable back like a D-Will and good young depth after this year—because if nothing else I make Bell play out his rookie contract. We had Bell for 6 games this year. And if you compare his stats this year (albeit only 6 games) to D-Will with more games, D-Will still had similar Yards per/carry and better yards per/reception numbers. You can cut stats any way you'd like to make a point, but the offense without him performed. That tells me that he's still a valuable asset (eyeball test), but not above replacement. And If you want irreplaceable money, your back up shouldn't have your numbers for back up money. This is why I give him a good contract, but teams are crazy to pay the RB position big money...even the elite guys. And elite guys aren't playing in two weekends...or last weekend for that matter.

 

If this team is willing to sign garbage, you can bet they'll keep Bell around.

 

I believe the Steelers will offer Bell a fair deal. I doubt they offer him record setting money. Bell won't be with the team if he decides to pull a Mike Wallace. For all we know Bell might want to test free agency. If I were a player I know I would.