I really don't understand trades in the NFL. People are saying Bell's top value is a 2nd round pick. I would assume if a trade goes through, there is an agreement in place on a long term deal so they'd be trading for the full value of Bell, not the guy that wont play this season. If NFL trades were like NHL trades, someone would offer a 1st, a starting cornerback, and a depth player haha.

All that said, I have only heard about picks as a potential return. Is there no team with depth on defense that would trade a defensive starter for Bell?
- YouMeAndDupuis9

A player on the franchise tag can't sign a new deal. That ship sailed over the summer. His situation can not change this season. If he plays, he'll have no guarantee's for next season no matter who he plays for. That's why his value is pretty low.

A few days to season start, and our thread goes now full NFLana...

Maybe. I didn't like the pick when it was made. He looked good on Sunday though. The broader point I'm making is that so many people got their egos tied up in yelling "he sucks!" Now people are basically rooting for him to suck
- jcragcrumple

56% completion percentage in college screams "he sucks"

And this is coming from a Lions fan. I would never root for the Bills to suck. The embarrassments of the NFL have to stick together.

A few days to season start, and our thread goes now full NFLana...
- VeryModernMan

You want to talk about preseason corsi? Stupid fake trade proposals? 900 mock lineups?

Steelers will have a bunch of cap space next season. I have no idea if there will be decent free agents available, but I think they may be able to put a band-aid on the D and compete for a championship.

To your larger point, yeah, Shazier was a star. Can't replace him. Drafting has killed the defense. Missed on too many high draft picks. Tomlin has become Dan Bylsma but the Steelers won't ever fire him. Sucks.
- madmike71

Totally agree - though its not coming close to replacing Shazier, I think they need to get Matthew Thomas on the field more. He's the only ILB in the same atmosphere as Shazier in terms of athleticism. He can't be worst than Vince/Bostick.

I agree that drafting is the main culprit. Look at the last 10 years. They drafted good offensive linemen and shazier. Terrell could be ok but its too early to tell. Everyone else is an average NFLer or complete bust.

2008 23 Rashard Mendenhall RB Illinois
2009 32 Evander Hood DT Missouri
2010 18 Maurkice Pouncey C Florida
2011 31 Cameron Heyward DE Ohio State
2012 24 David DeCastro G Stanford
2013 17 Jarvis Jones LB Georgia
2014 15 Ryan Shazier LB Ohio State
2015 22 Bud Dupree LB Kentucky
2016 25 Artie Burns CB Miami
2017 30 T. J. Watt LB Wisconsin
2018 28 Terrell Edmunds S Virginia Tech

They've also not gotten much from Free Agency in recent years. Ladarius Green... Morgan Burnett... Mike Mitchell... Jacoby Jones

A player on the franchise tag can't sign a new deal. That ship sailed over the summer. His situation can not change this season. If he plays, he'll have no guarantee's for next season no matter who he plays for. That's why his value is pretty low.
- madmike71

Ah. I read somewhere he could sign a long term deal with some sort of workaround/gentlemen's agreement in place. Perhaps not...

A player on the franchise tag can't sign a new deal. That ship sailed over the summer. His situation can not change this season. If he plays, he'll have no guarantee's for next season no matter who he plays for. That's why his value is pretty low.
- madmike71

So the smart choice is to piss away a guaranteed $14 million....makes sense.

So the smart choice is to piss away a guaranteed $14 million....makes sense.
- jmatchett383

I don't really blame him for sitting out. The franchise tag is ridiculous and the players union should have never signed a CBA with that clause. It's hard to imagine a union allowing for one player on each team to be treated completely different from everyone else. That's basically the antithesis of what unions do.

I think you're right however... He'll likely never recoup that money.

I don't really blame him for sitting out. The franchise tag is ridiculous and the players union should have never signed a CBA with that clause. It's hard to imagine a union allowing for one player on each team to be treated completely different from everyone else. That's basically the antithesis of what unions do.

I think you're right however... He'll likely never recoup that money.
- madmike71

That's on the NFLPA for signing off on it. The Steelers were within their right to do it.

But so what, he's ONLY going to make more this season than I will over my entire career, and next season, he can sign as a FA for even more ridiculous money.

I don't really blame him for sitting out. The franchise tag is ridiculous and the players union should have never signed a CBA with that clause. It's hard to imagine a union allowing for one player on each team to be treated completely different from everyone else. That's basically the antithesis of what unions do.

I think you're right however... He'll likely never recoup that money.
- madmike71

Ridiculous is expecting a long term deal when you are in one of the least valued positions in the league while you also have suspension and injury history.

Which is weird because Taylor wasn’t even that great. He was solid in his prime but he was never a star.

Last year I pretty much came to the conclusion that we’re not winning another one during the Big Ben era. Shazier almost made our defense good enough to make up for Tomlin and Haley dragging us down, but now that he’s gone, it’s over for us.
- Victoro311

I think Ike Taylor was extremely underrated as a shutdown corner. He didn’t get the picks that some of the big name guys got but he continually shut big name receivers down and limited a lot of YAC. He was solid at batting balls and wrapping up, which in my opinion is the Steelers secondary’s biggest issue. And they’re all midgets compared to the other teams no. 1 wideouts.

Totally agree - though its not coming close to replacing Shazier, I think they need to get Matthew Thomas on the field more. He's the only ILB in the same atmosphere as Shazier in terms of athleticism. He can't be worst than Vince/Bostick.

I agree that drafting is the main culprit. Look at the last 10 years. They drafted good offensive linemen and shazier. Terrell could be ok but its too early to tell. Everyone else is an average NFLer or complete bust.

2008 23 Rashard Mendenhall RB Illinois
2009 32 Evander Hood DT Missouri
2010 18 Maurkice Pouncey C Florida
2011 31 Cameron Heyward DE Ohio State
2012 24 David DeCastro G Stanford
2013 17 Jarvis Jones LB Georgia
2014 15 Ryan Shazier LB Ohio State
2015 22 Bud Dupree LB Kentucky
2016 25 Artie Burns CB Miami
2017 30 T. J. Watt LB Wisconsin
2018 28 Terrell Edmunds S Virginia Tech

They've also not gotten much from Free Agency in recent years. Ladarius Green... Morgan Burnett... Mike Mitchell... Jacoby Jones
- YouMeAndDupuis9

Steelers never make big splashes in FA. Kinda frustrating to be honest.

Ridiculous is expecting a long term deal when you are in one of the least valued positions in the league while you also have suspension and injury history.
- Feds91Stammer

This is also true, but they offered him a long term deal that his agent recommended he sign. Bell refused because he believes he should be paid for playing two positions (receiver and running back). He asked for 17mil a season. That should have been the red flag the Steelers needed to see.

This is also true, but they offered him a long term deal that his agent recommended he sign. Bell refused because he believes he should be paid for playing two positions (receiver and running back). He asked for 17mil a season. That should have been the red flag the Steelers needed to see.
- madmike71

And the Steelers offer was smart as it didn't have much guaranteed money.

But so what, he's ONLY going to make more this season than I will over my entire career
- jmatchett383

Don't be sad, here is a recipe to make vanilla ice cream "Philadelphia-style": https://www.allrecipes.co...o-make-vanilla-ice-cream/

And the Steelers offer was smart as it didn't have much guaranteed money.
- Feds91Stammer

It was also smart for Bell to turn that down. The likelihood that he'd get cut after year 3 was pretty high even if he was still playing at NFL starter caliber level. With a 17 mil a year cap hit, the moment Bell stopped being elite it would be in the Steelers' best interest to cut him. There are definitely more desperate teams such as the Jets, Colts, and maybe even Browns that will stomach giving him the boatload of guaranteed money he wants.

IMO, Bell is worth it. We only have three years max at true contention anyways, maybe less if Ben retires out of the blue like he almost did two years ago. There's down side to giving Bell an albatross contract that extends past that two year window, especially when you consider that our offense needs to play at a video game level to overcompensate for our defense if we want any shot at winning a Super Bowl. Its just that the Steelers FO is plagued with idiot Yinzer mentality that at this point would rather not pay Bell to prove a really dumb point.

So the smart choice is to piss away a guaranteed $14 million....makes sense.
- jmatchett383

You’re gambling $14 against a down season/major injury. Bell will get the deal he’s asking for from a desperate team that will pay him $17 mil guaranteed for 5 seasons which will raise his net income well above if he got payed $14 this season and $17 mil over the next two or three.

You’re gambling $14 against a down season/major injury. Bell will get the deal he’s asking for from a desperate team that will pay him $17 mil guaranteed for 5 seasons which will raise his net income well above if he got payed $14 this season and $17 mil over the next two or three.
- Victoro311

I'll be stunned if somebody guarantee's a 27/28 year old RB 85 million. Stunned. Especially a guy that has had injury issues and can be suspended for an entire year with another drug violation. Gurley is only guaranteed 45 million and he is younger and better. He also doesn't have a suspension history.

Can we get this sorry excuse of a hockey fan out as the resident pens blogger yet? Who the (frank) is Josh Allen. Football is for overweight slobs that don’t have enough work ethic to get off the couch in Sunday’s. It’s barely even a sport.

Can we get this sorry excuse of a hockey fan out as the resident pens blogger yet? Who the (frank) is Josh Allen. Football is for overweight slobs that don’t have enough work ethic to get off the couch in Sunday’s. It’s barely even a sport.
- Grinder47

Damn somebody's a bit angry...

TIOPS opining on the Sprong situation. Nothing we don't know already, but patience is running thin. IMO This is beginning to feel like the DP situation all over again.

I think they've gotten inside Sprong's head to the point he's overthinking everything he does.

It was also smart for Bell to turn that down. The likelihood that he'd get cut after year 3 was pretty high even if he was still playing at NFL starter caliber level. With a 17 mil a year cap hit, the moment Bell stopped being elite it would be in the Steelers' best interest to cut him. There are definitely more desperate teams such as the Jets, Colts, and maybe even Browns that will stomach giving him the boatload of guaranteed money he wants.

IMO, Bell is worth it. We only have three years max at true contention anyways, maybe less if Ben retires out of the blue like he almost did two years ago. There's down side to giving Bell an albatross contract that extends past that two year window, especially when you consider that our offense needs to play at a video game level to overcompensate for our defense if we want any shot at winning a Super Bowl. Its just that the Steelers FO is plagued with idiot Yinzer mentality that at this point would rather not pay Bell to prove a really dumb point.
- Victoro311

It's not an idiot Yinzer mentality when nearly every NFL team values the running back position the same way. These guys are replaceable. Most teams use tandems. Connor isn't the same talent as Bell, but he's more than adequate. Especially if they upgraded the back up RB.

I think the "idiot" comment belongs to Tomlin running every running back into the ground. On multiple occasions, Bell and (Connor this season) looked gassed late in games and they aren't nearly as effective.

Grizzy is the older version of Garfield after all that Lasagna calories caught up with him and got addicted to Catnip

Who cares about football. The NFL is a corrupt, highly political league, the game itself is too destructive and wearing on its players, and the players (at least the star players) have too strong of a sense of entitlement for me to even remotely like them in the least.

Now as for Gritty, I always thought that the Flyers considered their fans to be their mascots. As goofy as Gritty looks (and yes, he does look like Big Bird's meth-addicted cousin) I am sure there are some Flyers fans who would be even better, even without a costume.

They should have just dressed the Phanatic in another uniform - at least he would bring over his reputation. Gritty has a long way to go to establish such a reputation and until then he will just be a joke.

Damn somebody's a bit angry...
- ajw12

Judging by his username, he might be having some serious internal conflicts.