INDIANAPOLIS -- The Steelers and Le'Veon Bell remain committed to avoiding what happened between the team and its star running back in 2017. But time is running out quickly to do so.
Kevin Colbert said Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine that the Steelers and Bell continue to try to reach an agreement on a long-term deal that, as Colbert said two weeks ago, will "allow Le'Veon to finish his career" in Pittsburgh. But with the deadline to use the franchise tag now less than a week away -- March 6 -- time is of the essence.
“We have and we’ll continue to have negotiations,” Colbert said. “We’re trying to figure out a common ground for a long-term deal. That’s not only our goal but his as well.”
Bell has made it apparent he doesn't want to be tagged again as he was in 2017. He wasn't happy with it in 2017, despite being guaranteed $12.1 million. He won't be happy with it again this year, despite the fact his salary would go up to $14.5 million, over twice the amount every other running back in the league not named LeSean McCoy will count against his respective team's cap in 2018.
Neither side is being unreasonable.
The Steelers have to keep an eye on the bottom line. They have to be concerned with what a long-term deal at a position that traditionally has a short shelf life will do to their salary cap not just in 2018, but beyond.
And Bell has a point when he says he is concerned with his long-term stability. He just turned 26. He can't play football forever. And while it's nice to now have made $14.5 million to this point in his career -- ironically what he would be paid in 2018 if he's tagged -- it's a high price he pays each Sunday when he basically puts himself in position to go through 25 or so car crashes.
That's how Jerome Bettis once described playing the running back position in the NFL. Each carry is a car crash. And those have an effect on your body, no matter how well you take care of it.
It's one reason why teams have not wanted to pay big money on second contracts to running backs in recent seasons. But it's also somewhat ironic this is all coming to a head this week once again while the Steelers are in Indianapolis.
The Colts, after all, made a similar decision with Marshall Faulk in 1998 after five seasons. They traded Faulk to the Rams for second- and fifth-round draft picks. He went on to play for another seven seasons, rushing for just under 7,000 yards while also catching 470 passes and helping the Rams to two Super Bowls, winning once.
The Colts, meanwhile, moved on with rookie Edgerrin James, failing to make it to the Super Bowl with James, a very good player but no Faulk, at running back. In fact, James didn't make it to the Super Bowl until he left Indianapolis for Arizona.
Would anyone be happy with a similar return for Bell? Or a similar result?
I'm guessing the answer to that is no. The Steelers continue to want to avoid any such situation with Bell. But they also want to avoid what happened last year, when he skipped the entire offseason and training camp because he wasn't under contract.
But that deadline looms.
“We never liked talking about the tag,” Colbert said. “That’s nobody’s goal. That’s not their goal, that’s not our goal. But we’ll never say the tag is not available because it’s a collectively bargained item that, if need be, will be put to use.”
But can they get something done in less than a week?
“We hope so," Colbert said. “I don’t like to get into too much detail. I can say this, I’m optimistic we can find common ground. Those things are never final until they are final.”
• While walking around Indianapolis Wednesday morning, I noticed this:
That's Victory Field in Indianapolis. And on the left is a banner with Andrew McCutchen. On the right is Gerrit Cole. At the main gate for the Pirates' Class AAA club.
They might not be Pirates any longer, but once an Indianapolis Indian, always an Indianapolis Indian. Apparently.
• Colbert said Wednesday the Steelers have no interest in trading Martavis Bryant. Why would they?
As I have previously said, he's cheap at $705,000 next season. And he's valuable as a deep threat, forcing opposing teams to honor his ability to beat them deep even when he's not catching deep passes.
The bottom line is that -- given Bryant's past -- nobody is going to offer the Steelers anything close to what he's worth. And they're a better team with him in 2018 than they are without him.
• The NFL Competition Committee, on which Mike Tomlin sits, is set to take some key rules changes to the owners for possible ratification at their meetings in late March in Orlando, Fla.
To nobody's surprise, that includes doing away with the silly catch rule as it is now written. That would, of course, be welcomed by anyone who watches football.
The other big change would be possibly doing away with the spot foul on pass interference, making it a 15-yard penalty instead of a spot foul. That would be good, as well. But the league should look at keeping something in there that would keep defensive backs from reaching out and dragging a receiver to the ground if they're beaten beyond 15 yards.
It would have to be something like a flagrant foul in basketball. If you simply tackle the receiver who gets past you, the spot foul could remain. But seeing teams rewarded for just chucking the ball deep and the receiver getting bumped has to go.
• One of the key words you're going to keep hearing this week and in the coming weeks before the NFL draft is hybrid. This player is a hybrid or that player is a hybrid.
Everyone now wants the hybrid player. We used to call them "tweeners," and nobody wanted them because NFL teams didn't know what to do with them. Now, a player who's big enough to be a linebacker but nimble enough to play safety or too slow to play receiver but too small to play tight end is desired.
Maybe the Steelers were ahead of the curve with that when they took Carnell Lake in the 1989 draft and made the former college linebacker a safety -- and cornerback.
• Even if the Steelers and Bell don't get something long-term worked out before next Tuesday and they place the franchise tag on him once again, that won't be the end of the negotiations.
They would then have until July 16 to get a long-term deal worked out before he would be forced to play for the franchise tender once again.
