Le’Veon Bell’s time with the Steelers is coming to an end

Le’Veon Bell claims he wanted to retire as a Steeler, but it’s very likely 2018 will be his last campaign in a Pittsburgh uniform.

Steelers fans hoping for a last-minute agreement between their favorite franchise and All-Pro running back Le’Veon Bell can stop dreaming. The figurative clock has struck midnight and there’s no deal between the two parties.

That means Bell will almost certainly play the 2018 under the franchise tag again. That means he’ll get paid $14.5 million this season provided he doesn’t miss games due to a holdout. Unfortunately for Bell, it doesn’t give him any long-term security.

It also means this season will almost certainly be Bell’s last year in a Steelers uniform. His agent, Adisa Bakari, insists that Bell wanted to “retire as a Steeler” but the failure to reach a long-term agreement today makes it “likely” this will be Bell’s last season with the storied franchise.

It’s always possible Pittsburgh could try to franchise Bell for a third time, but that would require them to compensate him at the quarterback level. If the Steelers were willing to pay that kind of money, they could have easily reached a long-term agreement with Bell before today’s deadline. Instead, Bell is likely going to be one of the biggest names to hit free agency next offseason.

The real question now is how Bell will react to the news. Mike Tomlin will want his star running back to report to training camp on time, but it’s hard to see Bell agreeing to that. Look for the dynamic back to wait until the last moment to come back and be prepared to play Week 1. Bell could elect to miss actual game time, but that would be costly to his bank account.

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In the end, Pittsburgh fans should enjoy watching Bell play this season. He’ll almost certainly be a competitor when the 2019 season begins.