The Steelers have what Kevin Colbert said Thursday is a "strong desire" to sign Le'Veon Bell to a long-term contract extension this offseason. Whether they can get that deal done before the start of the free agency period in mid-March remains to be seen.
Colbert, meeting with the media at Rooney Sports Complex and speaking for the first time since the 45-42 loss to the Jaguars Jan. 14, said the team expressed that desire to Bell at his season-ending meeting.
"We met with Le'Veon before he left and said, 'Look, we have a strong desire to keep you with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the remainder of your career,' " Colbert said. "We weren't able to get the long-term deal done last year, but we never closed the door on that possibility for this season. But as we talk about the different scenarios of free agency and the draft, how is it all going to come together? We won't know until we continue to move through this. We do know that Le'Veon has been a great player for us. We think he can still be a great player from this point forward, and we'd love to have him be a Steeler for the rest of his career."
Bell, who turns 26 on Feb. 18, turned down a contract offer from the Steelers last offseason that was worth a reported $60 million over five seasons. The Steelers placed the franchise tag on him a year ago to retain his rights, paying him $12.1 million in 2017. He did not report to the team and sign the franchise tag until one week before the regular season began, and the Steelers would like to avoid a similar situation this year.
But Colbert wouldn't rule out tagging Bell again this year to retain his rights. Teams can begin using the franchise tag Feb. 20 and have until Mar. 6 to do so.
"We will never discount the use of a tag because that's collectively bargained," Colbert said. "But our goal is to have something done on a long-term basis."
Colbert thinks that can happen, though the fact the two sides were close on a deal last year doesn't necessarily mean they can have negotiations this year with the same parameters in place. And Bell has said that he would consider holding out or retiring if the Steelers place the franchise tag on him again -- a move that would guarantee him $14.5 million in 2018. But Bell also has stated that he wants to remain with the Steelers.
"You start over, really," Colbert said. "You know where you were last year. Our situation is different this year. It's not the same playing field for either side. We'll see where it goes. Just because of the cap situation and free agents who we may or may not keep. It's a different dynamic for 2018 at this time than it was for 2017."
The Steelers are currently $6.8 million under the league's projected salary cap according to Spotrac.com. But the official cap won't be set until prior to the opening of the new league year March 14. Because they don't know what the exact cap will be, the Steelers are in the situation of projecting what they would need to do to both sign Bell and be under the cap by March 14.
"The cap situation changes. We picked up some significant numbers later in training camp with Joe Haden, Vance McDonald and J.J. Wilcox," Colbert said. "Plus, we had some significant players under contract whose amounts will be more in 2018. It just presents a different challenge. We have to continue to massage the numbers as we look at different possibilities when we look at what our roster might look like."
Haden, McDonald and Wilcox were added via free agency and trades just prior to the start of the 2017 season and count $20 million against the team's 2018 cap. And the contracts of Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown take significant jumps this year from last. The team has already renegotiated the deals of David DeCastro and Stephon Tuitt to clear just over $13 million in cap space and would need to make some other significant moves to potentially sign Bell.
Bell rushed for 1,291 yards last season, the second-highest total of his career and appeared in 15 games for the Steelers, leading the NFL with 321 carries. But his average carry of 4.0 yards was the second-lowest of his career. He did also set a team record for receptions by a running back with 85 despite sitting out a meaningless regular season finale against Cleveland in a coach's decision.
But he also started slowly after skipping all of training camp. Bell had just 180 yards rushing and 13 receptions for 56 yards in the team's first three games.
"We didn't know how he would be after being tagged, but he was great," Colbert said. "He was great on the field. He was great in the locker room. He didn't disappoint us in any aspect of it. With both sides wanting to get something done. I believe that's his belief as well as ours, it certainly aids your ability to get that done. He came in when he felt he was ready. Physically, he was ready. Does it hurt your team not to have everybody? Sure. But wouldn't say we were disappointed in anything from that point forward. ... Could have been better had he been in camp? How do we know? That's something he would have to decide."
