Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell loves his music hobby and his latest EP ‘Until The Post Interview’ includes a very interesting line of lyrics in the song ‘One.’
“If they don’t sign me big, I know someone will,” raps Bell on his latest release.
Lyrics such as this one are always tough to dissect. Is Bell talking about his upcoming free agent status at the end of this season, or is he talking about a major record label signing him? I don’t know and I’ll let all of you interpret this as you see fit.
Bell, who is currently in the final year of his rookie contract, is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2016 season. The Steelers, however, can pretty much prevent Bell from leaving town during the offseason by placing the franchise tag on the young running back and according to former NFL agent Joel Corry of CBS Sports, that number could be in the neighborhood of $12.4 million. If that winds up being the Steelers course of action, the two sides could then start trying to work on a long-term deal at that point.
The Steelers also could decide to go year-to-year with Bell as well and thus give him the franchise tag in 2017 and then two additional years if he still deserves it. With that said, if a player to be given the franchise tag in two straight years, a team must pay him 120 percent of his previous salary. If a team wants to franchise a player three straight years, it would have to pay him 144 percent of his previous salary.
Bell is certainly a great player and if he was indeed referencing his upcoming free agent status in his latest single, he’s probably exactly right. If the Steelers decide not to franchise him or are unable to work out a long-term contract prior to the start of the 2017 league year, then another NFL team will surely offer him a huge contract that would likely result in him becoming the league’s highest paid running back.
For now, Bell just needs to make sure he stays healthy and out of trouble with the league. There’s still seven games left in the Steelers regular season and I expect and hope he’ll finish strong. I’m sure he and the Steelers do as well.
When the Steelers 2016 regular season finally comes to an end, you can bet I’ll be writing quite a bit more about Bell and his possible future in Pittsburgh. In the meantime, Bell will likely be rapping about it as well.
So, let me ask, what do you make of Bell’s latest rap lyrics? Just lyrics, or is this a message?
His latest rap single is below if you care to listen to it.
