Tuesday was the deadline for Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell to report to the team and sign his franchise tender in order to be eligible to play in 2018, and that will not be happening.
Just before the 4 p.m. EST deadline, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Bell would not be showing up.
Le'Veon Bell is not reporting to the Steelers by the 4 pm deadline today and is now ineligible to play the remainder of the 2018 season, source tells ESPN. His season is over.
Bell will become an unrestricted free agent this winter, when the bidding for his services will begin.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 13, 2018
Many reports indicated that Bell had to report by Nov. 13 in order to avoid being hit with the same $14.5 million franchise tag again this offseason, but Bell recently learned that the Steelers cannot go that route. If they used the tag on Bell again, that would be the third tag and would amount to the average of the top-five quarterback salaries in the NFL. Since Bell knows the Steelers aren’t going to pay him $25 million for one season, he’s confident he will either be transition tagged — which allows him to negotiate with other teams — or simply be allowed to become an unrestricted free agent.
Ironically, an old tweet from Bell went viral over the weekend that makes him look like a bit of a hypocrite. Time will tell if his business decision pays off, as Bell will now be a full year removed from football and have turned down $14.5 million guaranteed for 2018.
