Le'Veon Bell didn't sign his tender, so Steelers are stuck with - and without - him
The 2018 NFL trade deadline has passed, and while there were several trades, one big-name player isn’t switching teams.
Of course, technically he isn’t currently playing for any team.
No Le’Veon Bell, no trade
Running back Le’Veon Bell didn’t report to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Tuesday to sign his franchise tender, so the Steelers couldn’t trade him.
A little more than a month ago, there was a report that Pittsburgh was listening to trade offers for the two-time, first-team All-Pro, but any and all talks were contingent on Bell signing his tender to make a move possible.
Now that the trade deadline has passed, if Bell wants to play in 2018, it can be only with Pittsburgh.
Earlier Tuesday when Steelers coach Mike Tomlin met with media he was asked if he expected to see Bell in the team facility this week. Tomlin smiled, looked around the room and said, “Any other questions?”
Bell still choosing principle over profits
If you’re keeping track at home, Bell’s franchise tender amount for this year is $14.54 million, which is 20 percent over what he earned last season playing on the franchise tag. That breaks down to just over $855,000 per week over the 17-week regular season. With nine weeks’ worth of paychecks now disbursed (players generally get paid on Tuesdays in-season), he has left about $7.7 million on the table.
But Bell is taking a big-picture stand. He figures (likely correctly) that the Steelers would have happily run him into the ground again this season (he had 435 touches last year, including the postseason, or over 60 more than any other player), and then send him off into free agency to try to fetch a top dollar long-term deal after getting roughly 850 touches over the 2017-18 seasons.
Bell has until Week 10 to report to get credit for his contract and earn an accrued season.
More from Yahoo Sports NFL:
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• Texans acquire veteran WR Demaryius Thomas from Broncos
