[ad_1]
On the day of the Steelers hosting the Carolina Panthers on Thursday Night Football, things have taken a turn for a player on the Steelers who has yet to play for the Steelers. Le'Veon Bell, thought to possible report on Thursday and likely to report Tuesday at 4 p.m. And to guarantee he can play this year, can not do so after all, thanks to a CBA loophole that he and his agent recently discovered.
Bell recently left Miami and returned to Pittsburgh, where he's been spotted playing basketball pickup. He is also tweeting with upside down letters, confusing everyone with a message about him looking out for his family.
More NFL
What's the message Bell's put in the last month, give or take, how do we know that Bell and his agent are plotting this loophole? Well, according to Maurice Jones-Drew of NFL Media in an appearance on the always-excellent Dave Dameshek Football Program, Bell and his agent, who are also MJD's agent, are "digging" through the CBA to try and figure out Bell's options.
"So what happened was that they're now digging and reading and trying to understand the language," Jones-Drew said. "Because there's a lot of language in the CBA, especially for this particular instance, you're going back to where you're going. "
What could they be figuring out? Well let's walk through the CBA and break down the situation here. For starters, here's the language in the CBA, signed for "Section 15. Signing Period for Franchise Players."
In the event that a player has been designated as a player and has signed a player contracted by the following month, at 4:00 pm New York time playing football in the NFL for the remainder of that League …
Put in layman's terms: if Bell does not sign in on Tuesday, Nov. 13 at 4 pm ET, he will not be allowed to play for anyone during the 2018 season. Under the OLD CBA, this agreement would have been a major problem and would be allowed to become a free agent the following year.
Under the NEW CBA however, he may be able to skate into free agency. If he does not play, according to the CBA, the Steelers "shall have the right to designate [Bell] As a Franchise Player or a Transition Player "in 2019." Exceptionally, if Bell is "redesignated as a Franchise Player for the League Year following the Section 2 (a) (i) above. "
What does "Section 2 (a) (i)" consist of? It's the "Required Tender for Franchise Players" and it references "Subsection (b)" of that portion of the CBA.
That "Subsection (b)" makes it very clear that whichever is greatest.
Those three things are:
- The "average of the largest number of people in the world" (section 7 (a) below)
- The 120% of the average of the largest number of players in the field (in the categories set forth in Section 7 (a) below)
- The 144 percent of Bell's salary the year before
The first one is key there, because it basically means that it's going to be the equivalent of a franchise. That cost will be $ 25 million for the 2019 season.
In other words, Bell can not get one's tag line, but it's not one of the two.
Either with a $ 25 million next year, which is not a thing the Steelers are going to do because the cost is too prohibitive. But the Steelers will give the transition, which will be a free agent, because it will be able to negotiate a deal with another team.
The Steelers will be able to match that, but it is highly unlikely that they will be able to do so.
It's pretty stunning, really. The hardest thing to figure out is why it took a lot of money.
What 's not hard to figure out is that it is probably not going to play this season, because it knows it can not be avoided and still does not work. He could miss out on $ 13 million this year, but he's already so far down that road, with the ability to recoup it in a new deal with a new team.
We are here, but this is the beginning of the end of Bell's time in Pittsburgh.
[ad_2]
Source link
