NGT: LeVeon Bell not expected to report by Tuesday deadline

In comment 14172391 Knineteen said:

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and feign injury? 27 years old with 5 years of wear and tear at RB. Do we really believe someone will shell out premium money for him? Enough to makeup for the $14 mil lost?

Considering McKinnok got over $14m guaranteed, it’s basically a certainty that Bell will make out well. Why do people find this hard to believe? Being 27 doesn’t matter since you’d front load him. There’s a bunch of goo backs approaching or over 30 (McCoy, AP) and even Gore is producing.

In comment 14172425 chopperhatch said:

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In comment 14171506 kelsto811 said: Quote: I still remember being in awe earlier this year when I read the highest paid RB in this league right now is JERRICK MCKINNON. Yep. And yet dep would have you believe that Solder's deal is THE WORST CONTRACT IN NFL HISTORY. Lol, what a dumb statement that he defended vigorously.

In fairness to Dep, McKinnon was injured before taking a game snap in SF. Usually a GM gets the benefit of the doubt with an injury.

Solder is healthy.

I do wonder if Solder's son's health is weighing on his mind, which would be understandable. These guys are humans and as bad as he's played I hate how cold fans can be.

But at the same time he was signed I (and others) felt Solder was a bad contract before he played bad in NY.

In comment 14172073 longlive#10 said:

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In comment 14171609 Gman11 said: Quote: In comment 14171509 shyster said: Quote: He's not going to play because he doesn't want to risk injury until he has a lot of guaranteed money. He would have to live on the paltry 15 million? Oh, the humanity! Never fails. And people wonder why they're not rich. You wouldn't know what to do with the opportunity. Btw if you ever decide to sell your house Im gonna offer 25% of its value, and I'm gonna say "that's still a lot of money, you should be thankful!" Honestly what's the difference between 100 mil and 15 mil? Pfff I only make $10 an hour so Leveon should take my feelings into account and take whatever offer is given to him.. I mean really, it's not like he generates that much more revenue for his company than I do greeting customers at wal-mart. The audacity of this senseless business world where everyone is just paid arbitrarily based on a figure pulled out of a hat. My emotions do not approve!!!

I'm so grateful that some giants.com dreg (and/or a BBI dupe) is here to tell BBI posters why they're not rich.

Pitt is notorious for team friendly deals at the risk of the player. They rarely give gtd money and as a RB that gets 400+ touches a year and is finally due for a big payday, he needs to protect himself. This doesn't make Bell a bad teammate, in fact, his teammates and players around the league should be upset with the organization. I get that the org is using the tools that they have to control the player, but the player is doing the same. Kudos to Bell for standing up to them!

In comment 14172451 UConn4523 said:

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Considering McKinnok got over $14m guaranteed, it’s basically a certainty that Bell will make out well. Why do people find this hard to believe? Being 27 doesn’t matter since you’d front load him. There’s a bunch of goo backs approaching or over 30 (McCoy, AP) and even Gore is producing.

Well, isn't the "front load" part the problem? Teams aren't going to want to guarantee money to someone who sat out an entire season due to injury fear.

He's approaching "over the hill" status for RBs, won't have played a down in 1.5 years, shows he's a selfish player and a locker room headache...
And he wants a MASSIVE contract.

I understand he's forgoing $14 mil in order to make more money down the road, but it seems short-sided.
I don't want to "hypothetical" this, but imagine if he had an awesome season this year. Not only would he be $14 mil richer, but he would get an even larger contract in the future.

because he doesn't want to get used about abused and then kicked to the curb? Your take is very off.

unfortunately players shouldn’t mess with hypotheticals, and I wouldn’t if I was one of them. If Bell was an RFA he would have gotten more than Gurley this year. Knowing that how can you advocate taking that risk?

Bells only mistake has been looking like an asshole. But I think fans care about that more than teams trying to win football games. His age is a number that should be used as a gauge. 27 is not a hardstop, there’s proof of this all over he league. The turnover rate at RB is due more to the RB not being good enough than it is injury.

Even if the $40m is off the table I’m guessing he still doubles his guaranteed money. There’s too many teams desperate for talent in this league.

after playing ok the tag when you just said that his age an usage will prevent a big deal?

You can’t have it both ways.

claims Bell turned down $33M guaranteed.

and that the guaranteed portion was 1/3 of that.

claims it was a 5 year 70M deal with $33M guaranteed.

that's still about $15M less than what Gurley got, about the same as what Barkley got on his rookie deal and significantly lower than just about anyone else that is elite at their position. That's what Bell is fighting against.

but still well below where he should be. Agree with KMED.

In comment 14172914 pjcas18 said:

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claims it was a 5 year 70M deal with $33M guaranteed.

But part of that is buying out the Franchise tag for this year which is $14.5M. So he is essentially getting a 4 year contract with $18.5M guaranteed for the rest of the deal or signing a franchise tender knowing that Pittsburgh would give him 500+ touches if they could and that will hurt is longterm value.

just want to make sure people use the right numbers.

Neither side will confirm the validity of that, though Bell's agent said "I'm not going to confirm if those numbers are accurate or not, though they're not"

LOL.

He says only year 1 is guaranteed (as per the Steelers MO - according to the agent), but my guess is that maybe year 2 was probably guaranteed for injury only, which for Bell's purposes that should probably count.

it seems. There were rumblings last week that he had weird language in his rookie deal about the franchise tag. Seemed far fetch but there’s tons of misinformation on this one.

but would have played it differently if I were he agent.

I would have had LB sign the FPT offer right before game one so he could maximize the money opportunity. But then I would have LB fake an injury ala Kawhi Leonard. Go with the phantom thigh injury that just won't heal...

Sure, it reeks of being unethical. But so do these pathetic, non-guaranteed contracts. And all of these other CBA rules that are predominantly pro-owner.

The legacy of Gene Upshaw's incompetence lives on and on...

In comment 14172972 bw in dc said:

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but would have played it differently if I were he agent. I would have had LB sign the FPT offer right before game one so he could maximize the money opportunity. But then I would have LB fake an injury ala Kawhi Leonard. Go with the phantom thigh injury that just won't heal... Sure, it reeks of being unethical. But so do these pathetic, non-guaranteed contracts. And all of these other CBA rules that are predominantly pro-owner. The legacy of Gene Upshaw's incompetence lives on and on...

I guess it's a good thing for the game of football that Bell and his agent have more integrity than you do.

ok, so now LB has an injury that keeps him out all year, you think other teams will be quick to give him big money next offseason? Or does he tell those teams that he was faking?

He's gone a bridge too far regarding a contract by skipping a full season and the money.

for the Pittsburgh Steelers on a BS contract and I can't say I blame him. The dude gets 400+ touches a year for Pitt and has more catches than most WR's in the league. He has every right to demand more than what a rookie RB just got gtd.

I'm sure Bell would have loved to play football if he was compensated fairly.

In comment 14172986 Keith said:

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ok, so now LB has an injury that keeps him out all year, you think other teams will be quick to give him big money next offseason? Or does he tell those teams that he was faking?

It's a fair question. My guess is some team(s) would give him a higher % of what he's looking for - eventually. But your guess is as good as mine. In the end, an owner might simply - I have the cap $, LB is a great player, he can help me win, and he'll put or keep asses in seats. Thus, I see the Colts going all in for him...

I don't think he would need to come clean-clean. Just say something along the lines that it was a nagging injury and he wanted to play it safe. And leave it at that.

In comment 14172994 Keith said:

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for the Pittsburgh Steelers on a BS contract and I can't say I blame him. The dude gets 400+ touches a year for Pitt and has more catches than most WR's in the league. He has every right to demand more than what a rookie RB just got gtd. I'm sure Bell would have loved to play football if he was compensated fairly.

But, the team's position regarding such a deal at his age and level of wear tear are also significant. His game wasn't about speed or explosion, but he looked to be slowing down last year to my eyes.

In comment 14172980 pjcas18 said:

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I guess it's a good thing for the game of football that Bell and his agent have more integrity than you do.

Oh, please. Do you really think the majority of these owner have integrity and loyalty? Why do you think the CBA is written the way it is? To give the owners as much powers as they can get via pulling the wool over the eyes of the worst professional sports union in the world...

I understand the teams angle. Im not sure I agree with the slowing down portion(that seems to be picking up steam on bbi for some reason), but I don't think there is a RB in the league that I would give huge money to. That also doesn't change the fact that their offer was garbage compared to other players and other playmakers around the league. The Steelers are proof that a RB is only as good as the system and playes around him.

I guess the right thing to have done would be for the Steelers to either offer him a fair contract or to trade him. They drew a hardline in the sand. Even if you will argue that the Steelers are well within their rights(they are), then Bell is well within his rights to do what he's doing. Its his only course of action to combat what they did.

In comment 14173008 bw in dc said:

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In comment 14172980 pjcas18 said: Quote: I guess it's a good thing for the game of football that Bell and his agent have more integrity than you do. Oh, please. Do you really think the majority of these owner have integrity and loyalty? Why do you think the CBA is written the way it is? To give the owners as much powers as they can get via pulling the wool over the eyes of the worst professional sports union in the world...

Apparently, as evidenced by his actions, that's not how Bell chooses to live his life. He has principles I guess.

Rather than fake an injury to collect money, he is upfront and honest about it and while not willing to injure himself for $15M, he doesn't stoop to unethical and unprincipled means to still collect it. Agree with the approach or not, I admire it.

Also, the NFLPA had to agree to the CBA. If it's slanted toward owners or unfair in any way, they share in that. They had leverage.

They have a very short shelf life becasue of how they are used and how often they touch the ball, yet they get paid so much less because of how often they touch the ball and how they are used.

Then you factor in the franchise tag which gives teams the ability to lock up RB's for a short term(at an average salary which is already to low because RB's don't make a lot of money) and use the crap out of them and then letting them erode elsewhere. It's a broken system, specifically for RB's.

and probably unfair to other players at some level too - tight ends maybe, but I personally struggle to muster up the tears for a guy who if he signed his franchise tag he would have been paid $27M in just the past two seasons, and over $30.5M for his 6 year career to that point.

I don't judge him, as I've said, and I admire how principled he is, and I think he's probably on the right side of this situation, but I don't have a ton of empathy for him.

In comment 14173017 pjcas18 said:

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Rather than fake an injury to collect money, he is upfront and honest about it and while not willing to injure himself for $15M, he doesn't stoop to unethical and unprincipled means to still collect it. Agree with the approach or not, I admire it. Also, the NFLPA had to agree to the CBA. If it's slanted toward owners or unfair in any way, they share in that. They had leverage.

Again, I said I was pro-Bell. I just think there was a better way to maximize the opportunity. I certainly give him credit with sticking to his guns.

And I agree with you that the NFLPA made their bed with the CBA, now they have to lie in it. But that doesn't mean the deal is fair. It's still a horrible deal for the players based on what they could get. Do you think Fehr or Marvin Miller would have accepted this non-sense?

But, alas, the NFLPA have a history of folding like cheap blankets and not realizing their leverage. And the owners just patiently wait them out and secure these lopsided deals...

I think Bell might have made is he possibly could still report by the deadline tomorrow and just hope the Steelers say F-U, we'll pay you because we have to, but we're sticking with Conner as our main RB.

But Conner's concussion and the fact they'd have to pay Bell $6M or whatever it is for the rest of the season and the fact Bell is a damn good RB, you know that wouldn't happen. They'd probably use him a lot.

But the Steelers are a stubborn franchise, so who knows what they'd do.

He can’t pass a drug test.

In comment 14172848 UConn4523 said:

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unfortunately players shouldn’t mess with hypotheticals, and I wouldn’t if I was one of them.

Wait, playing in the NFL is now a hypothetical? Dude had 5 awesome seasons in the NFL and didn't suffer any career ending injuries. Odds say that trend would have continued to this year. That's not a hypothetical.

In comment 14172868 UConn4523 said:

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after playing ok the tag when you just said that his age an usage will prevent a big deal? You can’t have it both ways.

I never once said that. Thanks for putting words in my mouth.
I said he wants a MASSIVE contract; one that somehow compensations him for the $14 million lost.

As stated above, if he played for the $14 million and had a solid year, which is highly likely given past history, he would still get a big contract and also be $14 million richer.

In comment 14172825 Knineteen said:

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In comment 14172451 UConn4523 said: Quote: Considering McKinnok got over $14m guaranteed, it’s basically a certainty that Bell will make out well. Why do people find this hard to believe? Being 27 doesn’t matter since you’d front load him. There’s a bunch of goo backs approaching or over 30 (McCoy, AP) and even Gore is producing. Well, isn't the "front load" part the problem? Teams aren't going to want to guarantee money to someone who sat out an entire season due to injury fear. He's approaching "over the hill" status for RBs, won't have played a down in 1.5 years, shows he's a selfish player and a locker room headache... And he wants a MASSIVE contract. I understand he's forgoing $14 mil in order to make more money down the road, but it seems short-sided. I don't want to "hypothetical" this, but imagine if he had an awesome season this year. Not only would he be $14 mil richer, but he would get an even larger contract in the future.

Nope you said it right here. You said he’s approaching over the hill status but then your hypothetical says playing a good year would net him an even bigger contract.

Hypotheticals suck.