Little Progress in Le’Veon Bell Contract Extension Talks

The clock continues to tick on Le’Veon Bell and the Pittsburgh Steelers. The two have not made any major progress related to a contract extension for the multi-talented running back said a source and only two days remain prior to the window closing for franchise tag designations.

Bell has been receiving assistance in the negotiations from one of the most respected people in the Steelers locker room, teammate and center Maurkice Pouncey. The veteran center posted his thoughts about the situation on Instagram.

Pouncey told his followers on the popular social media sites he would call Coach Tomlin, Mr. Rooney and Mr. Colbert and personally tell them how could it be so hard to pay the best running back in the NFL what he is deserving of.

Bell, who is 26, has been putting up historic numbers on the stats board accumulating 7,996 yards from scrimmage over his first 62 games in the NFL, and hopes to avoid playing a second straight season with the franchise tag.

The tag this year, which must be applied no later than Tuesday, would pay Bell approximately $14.5 million, which is equal to an increase of 20% from the $12.1 million he was paid when given the tag by the team.

Pittsburgh is prepared to use the franchise tag, which guarantees the rights of Bell for one more year, while allowing both Bell and the team to negotiate until the deadline, which is mid-July.

However, Kevin Colbert, the Steelers’ general manager said last week during the NFL combine that he has spoken to the people representing Bell and he hopes that a deal could be reached by the deadline on Tuesday.

Both parties are trying to avoid what happened last year, when the running back skipped all of Pittsburgh’s training camp due to not having a long term deal in place.

Last season Bell rushed for 1,291 yards and 9 touchdowns. For his career he has 5,336 yards rushing and 35 touchdowns and 2,660 yards receiving and 7 touchdowns.