Pittsburgh Steelers

Slow-starting Le'Veon Bell trying to prove reliable for Steelers

PITTSBURGH — Le’Veon Bell knows it’s coming soon enough. He didn’t sit out the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offseason program and turn down a contract worth $12 million annually to not land the big one he knows is coming his way.

“It’ll come,” Bell told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after Sunday’s win over the Minnesota Vikings. “I’m due for an explosion play.”

And here you assumed it was a payday Bell was waiting for. Well, they might go hand in hand.

Yes, big plays often lead to big money. Bell sure is counting on that. At the heart of the contractual standoff between the Steelers and their star running back (who returned to the team on Sept. 1 after a holdout) is determining his worth at a position where it’s increasingly tough to do so.

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Reports suggest that Bell wants to be paid like the top running back in the NFL plus draw a salary that reflects his rare receiving ability. Bell caught 75 passes in 2016 — more than all but 24 wide receivers, five tight ends and one running back — and did so in only 12 games.

The NFL’s top backs earn about $8 million annually. No. 2 receivers pull in north of $4 million on average. That’s the math. Bell, who will be a free agent again in the spring, signed his $12.1 franchise-tag tender a few weeks ago. It would be hard to imagine him wanting less than that per year for a long-term deal.

But beyond his financial demands, there is far more distancing team and player right now. Let’s start with three of those preseason games he missed last season as a talking point, shall we?

“Anyone you give out that kind of money to, you have to count on every single week, every day,” a rival team’s general manager said of the Steelers’ dilemma. “Especially at that position. That’s what [Steelers GM] Kevin [Colbert] has to weigh right now. Can he count on a guy with multiple suspensions? That’s what he’s trying to figure out.”

The Steelers love Bell’s talent, which is a big reason why they placed the franchise tag on him this offseason. He’s one of the big three, along with QB Ben Roethlisberger and WR Antonio Brown, who make the Steelers one of the most dangerous offensive teams in football.

But Bell also has missed 17 games over his four seasons because of injury or suspension — the first three games last season taken away via his second violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy after reportedly missing multiple drug tests.

The other game Bell missed in 2016 came in Week 17, and the extra week of rest helped him be a monster the Steelers’ first two playoff games: 29 carries for 167 yards and two TDs against the Miami Dolphins, followed by 30 carries for 170 yards in a win over the Kansas City Chiefs.

Then Bell was a shell of himself in the AFC championship game loss to the New England Patriots, suffering a groin injury and tapping out after six carries in the Steelers’ blowout loss, 36-17, at Foxboro.

That game sums up Bell’s value to the Steelers: They can’t win the big ones without him, but they’re without him quite a bit, it seems. Bell has played in all 16 regular-season games only once in four years, during the 2014 season, but he missed the team’s playoff games both that year and in the following season. Hence the team’s reservations with opening the vault for him.

The whole thing is compounded by the fact that the Steelers already have invested heavily in Brown (five years, $73 million) and in an offensive line ($36.3 million to their top four blockers for 2018 alone) that helps make Bell look so good and allows his patented hesitation runs to be so effective.

Plus, the Steelers don’t know Roethlisberger’s future beyond this season. He said he needed to take time after the playoff loss to the Patriots to decide whether he wanted to play more, even as some have suggested he was playing the diva card when doing so.

Roethlisberger is back and off to a good start, but could this be his swan song?

“We’ve joked, is he becoming [Brett] Favre a little with his retirement stuff?” the GM said. “I honestly don’t know. I know the other guys in that class [Eli Manning and Philip Rivers], those teams are in the same boat. It’s probably a year-to-year deal with them also.

“They’ll have to plan for life after Ben. Just because you draft a QB or two, or have a good backup, doesn’t mean you’re fully ready for it. That’s why Bell has a little leverage on them there.”

Through two games this season, Bell has been ordinary. He was held to 32 rushing yards on 10 carries in the opener against the Cleveland Browns, looking rusty from his training-camp layoff, and to 87 yards on 27 carries in Week 2 against a good Minnesota Vikings front. Bell has seven catches for 19 yards in two games. His long run: 15 yards. Bell has yet to find the end zone on his 44 touches.

“It hasn’t happened yet. I almost had like three [against the Vikings],” he told the Post-Gazette. “I almost made one on a screen [and a] a run. They made the play. We’re two games in. We’ll watch the film and get ready for next week.”

This week's opponent, the Chicago Bears, have allowed 3.18 rushing yards per carry, good for 10th in the NFL, and have allowed only eight catches for 51 yards to opposing running backs so far. The Baltimore Ravens, the Steelers’ Week 4 opponent, have allowed 85.0 rush yards per game, good for 10th among teams that have played two games so far.

But the feeling around the league and in Pittsburgh is that Bell's reliability and availability might be bigger factors in contract negotiations than his production.

Sure, it won’t hurt if he gets going and puts up the monster numbers in 2017 we’ve become accustomed to seeing. After all, Bell is fifth in the NFL in total yards from scrimmage since entering the NFL in 2013 — 444 behind leader LeSean McCoy — despite playing 12 (or more) fewer games than the four men ahead of him on the list.

Instead, the Steelers must be sure that Bell’s multiple suspensions, occasional bouts of immaturity and his heavy workload (nearly 1,200 touches prior to his 25th birthday) are not major long-term concerns. That ultimately is going to determine whether he lands the bonanza deal he has been seeking.

The team already has bent over backward for another playmaker in WR Martavis Bryant, who was suspended for 2016, and couldn't afford to lose Bell for another substance abuse suspension, which could last 10 games, with Bell likely in Stage Three of the NFL's substance abuse policy. That punishment could be enacted with a positive test or another missed test, which is considered tantamount to dropping dirty under the league’s rules.

“I wouldn’t give in [to his demands],” the opposing GM said, “and I don’t think [Colbert] will. But if you lose Ben, you let Bell walk, who knows what could happen with [Bryant] … then you’re just left with Brown as your one soldier out there. That’s how tough this decision is when you boil it down.”

If Bell regains his 2016 form on the field and sheds his old skin off the field, the Steelers might have no choice. But one more slipup from him, or more injuries, and they may be compelled to move on.

This clearly is one of the more fascinating dilemmas any team is facing with a star player this season.

 

Associated Press

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