Le’Veon Bell has made his first public comments since the deadline to sign his tender passed, meaning he’ll have to play this season on his franchise tag.
On Snapchat about 15 minutes ago, Bell seemed to be leaving a workout session.
“Well, it’s a long day. Me and Jalen, we back at it. I gotta get better, apparently.”
Jalen Bell is his cousin, by the way, a running back for Cal U. Bell’s last comment, “I gotta get better,” is probably some frustration after not being able to come to agreement with the Steelers over a long-term deal. That’s despite reported “intense” negotiations which lasted throughout Monday.
Now, he has no choice but to sign his franchise tender and play out the year, set to become a free agent in 2018. The Steelers can’t try to work out a long-term deal with him until after the season. They could also place the franchise tag on Bell again, but that’ll cost over $14 million, certainly a high price to pay I am sure the team would like to avoid.
It is unknown if Bell will show up on Day One of training camp. Many have speculated he won’t join the team until sometime in August, following the lead Eric Berry took a year ago.
The positives here is that there seems to be a good relationship between the Steelers’ organization and Bell’s camp, increasing the odds of a contract extension eventually getting resolved. We won’t know that answer, of course, for many months.
