Le’Veon Bell has departed from Miami, where he was spending much of this time during his holdout and has returned to Pittsburgh but that doesn’t mean the all-pro running back will be reporting to the Steelers anytime soon.
According to Mark Kaboly of The Athletic:
Bell is now contemplating whether or not he will show up by the Nov. 13th franchise tag deadline based on new information from the collective bargaining agreement that would allow him to be “deemed as a third-year franchise player in 2019 rather than revert to the second year, even if he sits out the entire 2018 season.”
The difference between playing on the 2nd year franchise tag versus playing on the 3rd year franchise tag would be more than $10 million and with the emergence of RB James Conner, it doesn’t seem like Pittsburgh would allocate those resources to a running back they don’t seem to need anymore.
For Bell, it’s good news, considering he would not add any more wear and tear to his body and could be a free agent to earn that lucrative contract that he’s been seeking for some time now.
Bell will forfeit his remaining $6.84 million salary if he doesn’t report before next week.
