The Steelers need to trade Le’Veon Bell now

Le’Veon Bell has officially lost the Steelers’ locker room, including the offensive line. Keeping him around is just delaying the inevitable.

This is going to be tough to hear, Steelers fans, but it needs to be said.

On Wednesday, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that Pittsburgh Steelers star running back Le’Veon Bell has chosen to sit out Week 1 of the NFL season due to an ongoing contract dispute with the Steelers. “He’s going to do the things necessary to protect his value long-term,” Bell’s agent Adisa Bakari told Fowler.

In an equally concerning move, members of the Steelers offensive line have been voicing their displeasure about Bell’s absence all day. “I’m kinda pissed right now,” Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Tim Benz in one of many instances of Steelers linemen essentially giving up on Bell.

Bell’s decision to sit out Week 1 combined with the loss of his linemen’s respect makes one thing crystal clear for the Steelers: It’s time to part ways with Bell, now, preferably in the form of a trade. Pittsburgh needs to get as much value for Bell as it can before he walks for nothing.

Let’s be clear about one thing: This situation is an institutional failure by the Steelers front office. You reap what you sew, and in this case Steelers brass sewed discontent in one of their three best players by refusing to pay him what he and most sports fans with eyes felt he deserved. Now they are reaping a version of Bell who seems to have no desire to remain in Pittsburgh.

You can’t really blame Bell for looking out for himself. He was clearly insulted by the Steelers’ franchise tag and contract offers, which is why he still hasn’t signed the tag. Not playing in Week 1 is a bad look, but it’s one based on both self-worth and, more importantly, self-preservation.

Both sides are keenly aware that Bell’s time in Pittsburgh is coming to an end. Bakari and Bell might be afraid that the Steelers will run him into the ground this season in an active effort to decrease his value next summer.

That’s how we got here. Bell is mad, and no one knows when or if he’ll play this season. Now that he has officially drawn his battle line with both the Steelers’ front office and his own teammates, it’s time for him to go.

Just read some of these quotes from the men in charge of blocking for him, courtesy of Fowler and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ed Bouchette:

Those players all have reputations as consummate professionals and will certainly continue creating holes for Bell if he comes back. But there’s no doubting anymore the animosity Bell has fostered among his teammates. He has real locker-room cancer potential, and the Steelers need to get rid of him while he still has trade value.

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As it stands, Bell is generally regarded as the one of the best running backs in football. He’s a crafty, patient back who racks up yards on the ground and in the air. Before this season, no one had ever questioned his commitment to his team.

Still, Bell is coming off one of his less impressive seasons by his standards. That still entailed him playing 15 games and averaging 86.1 yards per game running and 43.7 catching passes. He’s only 26 years old and, though he has been known to suffer the occasional injury and do something stupid to get him suspended for a few games, there don’t appear to be any lingering affects from either of those transgressions.

Bell and the Steelers both seem to want to part ways, so why not do so in a way that’s a win for both sides?

Waiting to trade Bell will only diminish what the Steelers can get for him. That return has to be better than 225 pounds of discontent.