You Can Ring My Bell (Le’Veon)
- Updated: 08/31/2018
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In the late 1970’s singer Anita Ward touched off a fire storm with her hit song ‘You Can Ring My Bell” which was not allowed to be played in my house. I didn’t even know what the metaphor was until some kid in 8th grade biology told me, but my Irish Catholic Mom would scream at us to turn this song off. She also wasn’t a fan of AC/DC or Rod Stewart’s lyrics either, but that is another story.
Le’Veon Bell
The holdout of Steeler RB Le’Veon Bell is now coming to a head in the last hours of preseason. There is no doubt that he is the best back in football and extremely productive, however in a league that increasingly throws the ball every other play, is he as valuable as an OBJ or even teammate Antonio Brown? Bell is 26 years old and a proven star but is rejecting the $14.5 million franchise tag from the Steelers. To his credit, he has skipped training camp and he has every right to do so since he hasn’t signed the franchise contract. He is under no obligation to be in camp and has chosen to stay away. I also applaud him for trying to get his money while he is on top and has some leverage. Let’s be realistic, in this league running backs are a dime a dozen and are replaceable at the drop of a hat. While obviously talented, the Steelers have always had that big time feature back targeted in the draft. Running backs are generally washed up by age 30 and the days of drafting a Franco Harris and having him carry the rock for a decade are long gone. To put this in perspective, my son and I are preparing for our Fantasy Football draft this Sunday (Get a life, Dad!). Amazingly, almost all the top running backs we were fighting to get 4 years ago are either out of the league or a back up. Jamal Charles, Adrian Peterson, DeMarco Murray and Arian Foster were just a few of the top picks in our draft for 2015. All of them are now out of the league or backups trying to get a spot on a team.
The Franchise Tag
Bell is stuck between a rock and a hard place and there is speculation that the Steelers may rescind the franchise tag and let him go to free agency. If that occurs, he will be courted by the top contenders but there is almost no scenario in which he would earn $14.5 million this year. Most teams would probably give him a 3 year $24 million contract with about $11 million guaranteed. This would allow them to cut him after year two so they can move on with their latest draft pick that is younger, faster and has less battle damage. The Steelers are well aware of this and know they have all the leverage. One thing you have to respect about the Steelers and Patriots is their ability to make sound business decisions. They never fall in love with a player to the point where they overpay based on the market. I would love to have Bell on my team for the next two years, but committing to a huge contract no longer makes sense in today’s league. The only thing that is now certain is that Emmitt Smith will forever be the NFLs career rushing record because no team keeps its backs long enough for him that record to be threatened. Bell will probably show up to training camp this weekend, sign his franchise tag and be ready for the first game in 10 days. He might not be happy, but there are worse things than being ‘forced” to accept a paltry $14.5 million this year to play football. However if the Steelers do rescind the franchise tag, Le’Veon can certainly ring my Jet’s bell for a year or two. I might even break out my old Freeman McNeil and Bruce Harper jerseys to watch him play! In the meantime I have enclosed a refresher of Anita Ward’s song. I think I’ll put this on, turn the speakers up and call my mom just for giggles.
-BSB
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