The Steelers have been lying about hearing from Le’Veon Bell.
Bell reached out to Steelers and asked for something very reasonable in my opinion, but the Steelers declined.
The Steelers and Le’Veon Bell both made closing pushes leading up to Tuesday’s deadline to iron out a deal that would have brought him back to Pittsburgh this season, but neither side could finalize an agreement, league sources told ESPN.
The Steelers were told that if they were willing to not use their franchise or transition tag on Bell after this season, he would consider reporting to the team, according to sources. But the Steelers declined Bell’s request because they felt the tag was too important to forgo.
the NFLPA believes that the transition tag must be $14.54 million — which would be 120 percent of Bell’s salary from the last franchise tag that he played under in 2017.
The NFLPA will argue, as it states in the collective bargaining agreement, that Bell’s tag would be based off the prior year’s “negotiated” contract. But there were no negotiations for the $14.54 million franchise tag that was applied to Bell this season, which has opened the door to this discrepancy.
No player has ever been in a situation like this. If the league wins the ruling, it will add even more leverage to teams using franchise and transition tags. If the NFLPA wins, it will give players more rights if they decide to skip seasons when tagged.
In the end, Bell is just trying to get his freedom is being held hostage by Steelers.