Steelers' fans overwhelmingly support pulling franchise tag off Le'Veon Bell

[hawaiiansteeler]

Steelers' fans overwhelmingly support pulling franchise tag off Le'Veon Bell

By: Curt Popejoy

Pittsburgh Steelers’ fans have spoken and they have made it clear. If running back Le’Veon Bell doesn’t show up to training camp, they support the front office rescinding the franchise tag.

to read rest of article:

https://steelerswire.usatoday.com/2018/07/22/steelers-fans-overwhelmingly-support-pulling-franchise-tag-off-leveon-bell/

[Mojouw]

That was totally non-representative and full of click baity ideas.

"I want the Steelers to win a Championship!"

"I want to beat the Cheats!"

"I want to take one of the top offensive weapons in the entire league off the field because he made me have angry feelings and reminded me that these guys make outrageous sums of money to play a game and I make peanuts to actually work!"

"I have the emotional depth and control of a 4 year old."

There, I wrote a Steelerswire comment thread.

[FrancoLambert]

IMO the overwhelming angry fan reaction stems more from his self imposed sitout hurting the team, not the amount of money he wants to be paid.
The Rooneys preach team first and the fans believe it as well. His self imposed sit-out during camp and preseason doesn't help the team...it hurts the team.
I'm not surprised the majority of fans won't be sad to see him go.

[AtlantaDan]

Steelers' fans overwhelmingly support pulling franchise tag off Le'Veon Bell

By: Curt Popejoy

Pittsburgh Steelers’ fans have spoken and they have made it clear. If running back Le’Veon Bell doesn’t show up to training camp, they support the front office rescinding the franchise tag.

In related news :coffee:

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/044/247/297.png

[Dwinsgames]

That was totally non-representative and full of click baity ideas.

"I want the Steelers to win a Championship!"

"I want to beat the Cheats!"

"I want to take one of the top offensive weapons in the entire league off the field because he made me have angry feelings and reminded me that these guys make outrageous sums of money to play a game and I make peanuts to actually work!"

"I have the emotional depth and control of a 4 year old."

There, I wrote a Steelerswire comment thread.

since you are so good at it perhaps you should apply .....

they are looking for someone since Simon left

go to twitter and contact
@CurtPopejoySW (https://twitter.com/CurtPopejoySW)
hell he may even remember you from the old forum days ...

fyi the story was based on a poll and represented the results of such poll and the replies under the poll ... not sure wtf you expect in an article this time of year but apparently you think you are much more up to the task than others or you would not be so quick to make fun of them as often as you do ...

[Mojouw]

since you are so good at it perhaps you should apply .....

they are looking for someone since Simon left

go to twitter and contact
@CurtPopejoySW (https://twitter.com/CurtPopejoySW)
hell he may even remember you from the old forum days ...

fyi the story was based on a poll and represented the results of such poll and the replies under the poll ... not sure wtf you expect in an article this time of year but apparently you think you are much more up to the task than others or you would not be so quick to make fun of them as often as you do ...

First, it was sarcasm and primarily aimed at the commenters not the authors.

Second, I know Curt knows a ton about football. But I suspect that Steelers wire works much like SB nation and the posters work largely unpaid and under immense pressure to generate significant content daily with controversial headlines and opening takes that drives page views. This likely makes it next to impossible to do anything with a ton of depth and detail. And that sucks for everyone. Hopefully the site can grow enough that it can balance between page view driving articles (like Marczi on Steelers Depot) and more detailed articles (Stuff Dave and Alex post).

Third, in the meantime I'm not going to apologize for pointing out silly articles that use polls that are drawing from a selective portion of the overall population of Steelers fans (in this case fans who were likely on the internet to hate read about Bell).

Fourth, I return to my original point. It was barbed sarcasm aimed mostly at fans who seemingly want to different and mutually exclusive things.

[hawaiiansteeler]

I personally believe that rescinding Bell's franchise tag would be a very bad idea. Leave'on is gonna go all out to have a great season so he can reset the RB market in free agency, why not run the wheels off him for one more year?

[Mojouw]

I personally believe that rescinding Bell's franchise tag would be a very bad idea. Leave'on is gonna go all out to have a great season so he can reset the RB market in free agency, why not run the wheels off him for one more year?

I think that as well.

I mean I guess if someone totally unexpected shows up on the market. Like a Khalil Mack or Clowney and you want the cap space. But that won't almost certainly won't happen. So the cap space gets you nowhere.

Maybe they should do a better job getting one or more of the other RBs ready to at least perform a credible impression of an NFL starter. Then if (when?) Bell starts slow, you can pull his snaps.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[pczach]

If they rescinded the tag at this point, they would be rolling the dice on what would be available to them in the form of castoffs from other teams.

There could potentially be a handful of very good players released for salary concerns and the hope of being replaced by younger, cheaper players.

On the other hand, there may not be enough talent at the positions they covet to make the team significantly stronger. They certainly aren't going to find a RB in Bell's class or with his complete skill set.

I just don't know that the team would risk the potential of significantly downgrading the team when they are trying to make a run at a championship. However, with the way Bell has handled this whole thing and turning down the final offer from the team, who knows. It makes for interesting conversation and makes my mind wander, thinking of potential talented veterans that could become available for cap savings.

I think the smart money would be on the team keeping him for this year and then saying goodbye. That way they get to pick and choose how the spend the money they save when Bell leaves on the players they target from the entire talent pool in the offseason instead of the limited and unknown list of players that become available between now and the regular season.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

In related news :coffee:

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/044/247/297.png

:rofl: Well done.

I guess its better than saying "fans overwhelmingly support letting Bell leave as a free agent after Steelers rescind the franchise tag".

[Dwinsgames]

hopefully we get an extended look at this kid in training camp and preseason


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58KXly1PdBM

[BlackAndGold]

And replace him with what?


Fans are not GM's and thank god they're not.

[hawaiiansteeler]

And replace him with what?

Fans are not GM's and thank god they're not.

exactly, I can't see any scenario where rescinding his tag makes us a better team in 2018.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

exactly, I can't see any scenario where rescinding his tag makes us a better team in 2018. :tt03: Exactly.

- - - Updated - - -


hopefully we get an extended look at this kid in training camp and preseason


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58KXly1PdBM

I think we will for sure. I said before, his skillset reminds me of former Charger and Iowa Hawkeye Ronnie Harmon. Good receiver out of the backfield and playmaker. A serviceable rusher of the football, but its not his strength IMO.

[Dwinsgames]

:tt03: Exactly.

- - - Updated - - -



I think we will for sure. I said before, his skillset reminds me of former Charger and Iowa Hawkeye Ronnie Harmon. Good receiver out of the backfield and playmaker. A serviceable rusher of the football, but its not his strength IMO.


I think he is a better runner than given credit for , but we shall see it all changes at this level ...

That said bell is not the guy we drafted either .... nobody expected him to come in so thin and quick , he was more of a bruiser in college sooo we shall see

[tube517]

:tt03: Exactly.

- - - Updated - - -



I think we will for sure. I said before, his skillset reminds me of former Charger and Iowa Hawkeye Ronnie Harmon. Good receiver out of the backfield and playmaker. A serviceable rusher of the football, but its not his strength IMO.

My memory is fading but wasn't Ronnie the 3rd down back w/Natrone Means as the big RB? Kind of the Erric Pegram to our Bam Morris? Was that the Ronnie Harmon you're thinking of?

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

My memory is fading but wasn't Ronnie the 3rd down back w/Natrone Means as the big RB? Kind of the Erric Pegram to our Bam Morris? Was that the Ronnie Harmon you're thinking of?

I don't think Peagram was as good a receiver as Harmon. Ronnie Harmon had 2700 rushing yards and 6,000 receiving yards in his 12 year career. While I agree with Dwinsgames that Samuels is a better runner than given credit for....he is still a better receiver than runner IMO. He is also a guy that has size at 225lbs.

Samuels was a playmaker in college. Just have to see if he can do that in NFL.

[Cyphon25]

No way in hell the Steelers pull the tag and they shouldn't. Look, I have been against signing Bell long term for anything more than maybe 12 mil a season but you HAVE to have him for at least this year. Conners is a good runner but can't block and has an injury history longer than Ron Jeremy's.......Career in acting. Samuels has never taken an NFL snap. So yeah, have to have Bell.

[teegre]

My memory is fading but wasn't Ronnie the 3rd down back w/Natrone Means as the big RB? Kind of the Erric Pegram to our Bam Morris? Was that the Ronnie Harmon you're thinking of?

Yep... he played with Natrone. :nod:

Living in SD, I watched Harmon quite often. Simply put, he was more of a receiver (than an actual “running” back).

[86WARD]

To pull his tag is just plain stupidity. People were blowing this guy like crazy...how much of a God he was over Eddie Lacy and how brilliant the Steelers were to draft him and now that he wants more money than the Steelers are willing to offer, they want to cut arguably the best RB in the league before the season starts and hurt their Super Bowl chances because they are angry and hate him...lol.

[Steelerchad]

They are a top 5 team and if they stay healthy should be one of the favorites for the Super Bowl. You don't cut one of your top 2 offensive weapons, which is basically what rescinding the franchise tag would be.
For those that want him released, you would be giving him what he wants basically anyway. Being able to sign a long term guaranteed deal, albeit with another team.

[hawaiiansteeler]

Conners is a good runner but can't block and has an injury history longer than Ron Jeremy's.

:rofl2:

[steelreserve]

Pulling the franchise tag is the equivalent of Bell-Einstein holding out of training camp: Severely inhibit your chances of having a good season, with no potential benefit to yourself, just because you're mad and by god, you'll show everybody.

In other words, it would be the Steelers demonstrating that they could be just as stupid as Bell.

[Fire Goodell]

I'm not a Bell fan after all the drama, but honestly I would be 100% against pulling the tag. We're a better team with him than without now. We don't have a proven capable RB waiting in the wings at the moment, so getting rid of him would be idiotic.

He's definitely not coming back, but the FO has another year to figure out how to replace him.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

Pulling the franchise tag is the equivalent of Bell-Einstein holding out of training camp: Severely inhibit your chances of having a good season, with no potential benefit to yourself, just because you're mad and by god, you'll show everybody.

In other words, it would be the Steelers demonstrating that they could be just as stupid as Bell.

I don't think the tag should be pulled either. But, the benefit of Bell not reporting to camp, or maybe taking the first 4 games of the season off is to go into his free agency period next year with less wear and carries on his body. If he thinks he can cash in on the open market in 2019, he will avoid another 300 carry season and walk into 2019 healthy.

I would not be surprised if he has phantom hamstring issues if the going gets tough this year.

[steelreserve]

I don't think the tag should be pulled either. But, the benefit of Bell not reporting to camp, or maybe taking the first 4 games of the season off is to go into his free agency period next year with less wear and carries on his body. If he thinks he can cash in on the open market in 2019, he will avoid another 300 carry season and walk into 2019 healthy.

I would not be surprised if he has phantom hamstring issues if the going gets tough this year.

At the same time, the benefit of showing up to training camp is having a better season than if you suck for the first month, thereby increasing your value on the free agent market by much more.

In the grand scheme of things, a month and a half of practices plus a handful of touches per game in the preseason are unlikely to have any effect on your value because of "wear and tear," which is impossible to define anyway. It's nothing but a big question mark in contract situations. It will certainly have less of an effect than 200 or 300 extra rushing yards, and clearly establishing yourself as the best RB in the league.

No one is going to go "hey, he skipped training camp, that's a check mark in his favor, let's give him that extra million a year because he put my mind at ease." Although they might go, "hmm, this guy skipped training camp again, he might be an asshole who is going to sandbag me a year or two down the road."

Literally the only thing you can do by skipping training camp is try to lower your chances of a random freak injury, which is a pretty questionable goal. It's like trying to dodge lighting bolts, when you're already required to stand outside in a thunderstorm for 16 weeks. If you're "betting on yourself," the bet is to try to kick ass and have a huge season. Not hang back and worry about injury.

Injuries are random bolts of lighting. If if it's going to happen, it's going to happen. If not, then not. You can't beat the RNG.

[smokin3000gt]

If it was up to the Steelers' fan base the entire coaching staff and front office would be gutted after every loss with a for sale sign after the second loss of the season. We (fans as a whole) are a very knee jerky crowd :chuckle:

[AtlantaDan]

I don't think the tag should be pulled either. But, the benefit of Bell not reporting to camp, or maybe taking the first 4 games of the season off is to go into his free agency period next year with less wear and carries on his body. If he thinks he can cash in on the open market in 2019, he will avoid another 300 carry season and walk into 2019 healthy.

I would not be surprised if he has phantom hamstring issues if the going gets tough this year.

Tricky spot for Bell - he gets paid the same this season whether the Steelers run his wheels off for another year or not, so he has an incentive to reduce that possibility. But if he misses games for phantom injuries that supports the narrative his slide started in 2017 and accelerated in 2018, which hurts his marketability

Bell only needs one team to overpay him, but it helps to drive up the price if there is competition for his services - any impression he already is worn out lessens that possibility

After reading the Pro Football Focus article on Bell’s value I posted today in the thread on Bell not signing (link below) I am more relieved than ever the Steelers did not commit to tying up huge $$$ on Bell after this season

https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-what-is-leveon-bells-true-value

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

At the same time, the benefit of showing up to training camp is having a better season than if you suck for the first month, thereby increasing your value on the free agent market by much more.

In the grand scheme of things, a month and a half of practices plus a handful of touches per game in the preseason are unlikely to have any effect on your value because of "wear and tear," which is impossible to define anyway. It's nothing but a big question mark in contract situations. It will certainly have less of an effect than 200 or 300 extra rushing yards, and clearly establishing yourself as the best RB in the league.
.

I think Bell has enough of a resume established, that a "slow start" due to absence will not hurt his value on the open market. Also, if he only plays 12 games, then he still makes approx. $9million and is still the highest paid guy in the league. He can also report for week 1, start slow and then round into form, but pull up a few "phantom hamstring injuries" so that he is limited to possibly 10 games of play and still collect his $$ and end the season less beat up than normal.

This isn't my idea, it was discussed as a strategy by Lewis Riddick and Adam Schefter on the day the deal could not get done. Just saying a disgruntled Bell can still find a way to get paid, stay healthy and hit the open market in 2019 if he wants to.

[ALLD]

No way we get a full 16 games out of Bell. He already has one foot out the door and won't report to camp. Think we get 20 minutes in a game?

[steelreserve]

I think Bell has enough of a resume established, that a "slow start" due to absence will not hurt his value on the open market. Also, if he only plays 12 games, then he still makes approx. $9million and is still the highest paid guy in the league. He can also report for week 1, start slow and then round into form, but pull up a few "phantom hamstring injuries" so that he is limited to possibly 10 games of play and still collect his $$ and end the season less beat up than normal.

This isn't my idea, it was discussed as a strategy by Lewis Riddick and Adam Schefter on the day the deal could not get done. Just saying a disgruntled Bell can still find a way to get paid, stay healthy and hit the open market in 2019 if he wants to.

I mean, yes, those are all possibilities, and chances are good he'll do one or more of them to some degree. I just think it's a dumb move.

Like "hey, I'm in my contract year, what will make me worth the most to other teams? Bad attitude? Check. Half-assing it? Check. Lower stats? Check. Availability questions? Check. Blatantly cashing in on past reputation? Check." It's like a list of EVERYTHING you could do to make yourself seem like a potential liability for a big contract. Will someone pay him what he wants anyway in spite of that? Maybe. But he sure isn't doing himself any favors.

Like I said, if you're betting on yourself, by far the best thing you can do is just go out and play well. Doing it the chickenshit way doesn't help you.

Personally, the ideal ending to the Bell saga would be for him to play out the season and then Art Rooney turns around 5 seconds after winning the Super Bowl and breaks his nose with the Lombardi Trophy.

[Mojouw]

None of 2018 is really going to matter as long as Bell stays healthy and does not have disastrous on field results. And by disastrous I mean something like dropping passes and averaging under 3 yards a carry.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cap/2019/

Bills, Jets, Colts, Texans, and Lions will have 293.8 million dollars in cap space between them and for a variety of fairly obvious reasons could convince themselves that Leveon Bell is the missing piece.

Never underestimate the ability of a GM with cap space to hand out big money contracts.

[Dwinsgames]

None of 2018 is really going to matter as long as Bell stays healthy and does not have disastrous on field results. And by disastrous I mean something like dropping passes and averaging under 3 yards a carry.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cap/2019/

Bills, Jets, Colts, Texans, and Lions will have 293.8 million dollars in cap space between them and for a variety of fairly obvious reasons could convince themselves that Leveon Bell is the missing piece.

Never underestimate the ability of a GM with cap space to hand out big money contracts.


Bills already have a Back as good as Bell ( aging but still highly productive in McCoy and at half the cost )

Jets still have to figure out if they have a QB and until such time a BIG $ RB should be on the back burner

Texans with Lamar Miller and Donta Foreman on the roster why would you ?

Lions I do not see them spending money on a RB not with the committee approach they seem to like going on Riddick is a great pass catcher and they added the banger in Blount to go with their other pieces and parts

Colts you may have found a potential suitor here there is no telling what this fool and his money might do ...


That said I just do not see him breaking the bank with anyone unless it is a team desperate to put butts in seats ( see Cleveland )

I think Bells biggest career payday is going to be 2018 ...resetting the market as they call it does not come all at once it comes in segments a couple guys get 20-30% more than the rest of the guys at the Pos , then the next year a couple more get paid , and so on ...

see what happened with Guards starting with Steve Hutchinson and it slowly parlay into a league wide thing ...

[Mojouw]

Bills already have a Back as good as Bell ( aging but still highly productive in McCoy and at half the cost )

Jets still have to figure out if they have a QB and until such time a BIG $ RB should be on the back burner

Texans with Lamar Miller and Donta Foreman on the roster why would you ?

Lions I do not see them spending money on a RB not with the committee approach they seem to like going on Riddick is a great pass catcher and they added the banger in Blount to go with their other pieces and parts

Colts you may have found a potential suitor here there is no telling what this fool and his money might do ...


That said I just do not see him breaking the bank with anyone unless it is a team desperate to put butts in seats ( see Cleveland )

I think Bells biggest career payday is going to be 2018 ...resetting the market as they call it does not come all at once it comes in segments a couple guys get 20-30% more than the rest of the guys at the Pos , then the next year a couple more get paid , and so on ...

see what happened with Guards starting with Steve Hutchinson and it slowly parlay into a league wide thing ...

Jets can easily talk themselves into "taking pressure off the QB" by signing a "great RB" chain of logic. Happens all the time.

Bills may want to part ways with McCoy after his super "shady" off-season. I believe he is accused of hiring someone to rob his ex?

Lions are long on record of searching for an all around RB and many of my friends who follow the team say they are tired of trying to cobble it together via 2-3 guys, so that was my thinking. BUT...I also forgot they drafted Johnson, so strike them from the list.

I have no idea what any of these or other teams will do. But I just look at teams that have between 45-60 guys signed up for 2019 already and still have 30, 50, 60, or 80 million in cap space. Figure, what else are they gonna do with it?

[Dwinsgames]

Jets can easily talk themselves into "taking pressure off the QB" by signing a "great RB" chain of logic. Happens all the time.

Bills may want to part ways with McCoy after his super "shady" off-season. I believe he is accused of hiring someone to rob his ex?

Lions are long on record of searching for an all around RB and many of my friends who follow the team say they are tired of trying to cobble it together via 2-3 guys, so that was my thinking. BUT...I also forgot they drafted Johnson, so strike them from the list.

I have no idea what any of these or other teams will do. But I just look at teams that have between 45-60 guys signed up for 2019 already and still have 30, 50, 60, or 80 million in cap space. Figure, what else are they gonna do with it?


I do not see it but hey in a few weeks we might find out ( sarcasm on the time frame but when you get over 50 a year seems like weeks ) :drink:

[steelreserve]

Jets can easily talk themselves into "taking pressure off the QB" by signing a "great RB" chain of logic. Happens all the time.

Bills may want to part ways with McCoy after his super "shady" off-season. I believe he is accused of hiring someone to rob his ex?

Lions are long on record of searching for an all around RB and many of my friends who follow the team say they are tired of trying to cobble it together via 2-3 guys, so that was my thinking. BUT...I also forgot they drafted Johnson, so strike them from the list.

I have no idea what any of these or other teams will do. But I just look at teams that have between 45-60 guys signed up for 2019 already and still have 30, 50, 60, or 80 million in cap space. Figure, what else are they gonna do with it?


Probably try to sign Bell for as good of a deal as they can get, not just pay him double the amount of other RBs just because they have extra cap space.

Thing about all the teams with a ton of cap space is, they need to fill multiple positions ... hell, every NFL team has like a quarter to a third of the roster become free agents every offseason. On good teams, those are mostly bench players. On teams with $50 or $60 million in cap space, those are starters (or more accurately, a starting position is already vacant and a bench-level player was forced to fill it for the year). They are all going to have 6 or 7 spots in the starting lineup that they could improve through free agency.

So it is not just a free-for-all, throw-as-much-money-at-one-guy-as-you-can situation. Bell is not the only free agent on the market. He will probably be the best and highest-profile free agent, but you still have to consider "If I could get one very good player for this dollar amount, or two very good players at different positions that I also need, which one should I do?" No doubt he'll end up being the highest-paid running back on the market, probably even cracks the $10 million barrier - but somehow I get the feeling that if he thinks they gonna have to pay him 15, he's in for a surprise.

[Mojouw]

Probably try to sign Bell for as good of a deal as they can get, not just pay him double the amount of other RBs just because they have extra cap space.

Thing about all the teams with a ton of cap space is, they need to fill multiple positions ... hell, every NFL team has like a quarter to a third of the roster become free agents every offseason. On good teams, those are mostly bench players. On teams with $50 or $60 million in cap space, those are starters (or more accurately, a starting position is already vacant and a bench-level player was forced to fill it for the year). They are all going to have 6 or 7 spots in the starting lineup that they could improve through free agency.

So it is not just a free-for-all, throw-as-much-money-at-one-guy-as-you-can situation. Bell is not the only free agent on the market. He will probably be the best and highest-profile free agent, but you still have to consider "If I could get one very good player for this dollar amount, or two very good players at different positions that I also need, which one should I do?" No doubt he'll end up being the highest-paid running back on the market, probably even cracks the $10 million barrier - but somehow I get the feeling that if he thinks they gonna have to pay him 15, he's in for a surprise.

Good teams think like that. Crappy mid-tier teams are desperate for "star" players to "build around" and tend to throw money at "name" guys.

Look at this off-season, there were teams with record amounts of cap space. They tossed it around like drunken sailors at big-name guys.

Plus many of the teams with oodles of cap space have upwards of 60 guys under contract for 2019 cap year. So...even if they sign a half dozen other guys and Bell they can still fit it in with 50-60 million of space.

[steelreserve]

Good teams think like that. Crappy mid-tier teams are desperate for "star" players to "build around" and tend to throw money at "name" guys.

Look at this off-season, there were teams with record amounts of cap space. They tossed it around like drunken sailors at big-name guys.

Plus many of the teams with oodles of cap space have upwards of 60 guys under contract for 2019 cap year. So...even if they sign a half dozen other guys and Bell they can still fit it in with 50-60 million of space.


Well, regardless, it looks like Bell may get his wish as long as he doesn't really fuck up this year, given the Rams' new deal with Gurley.