By G.Stryker:
I have read a lot of articles indicating November 13th as the date Le’Veon Bell will sign by. From my research of NFL Important Dates for 2018 - 2019 (see below for link), November 13th is officially the last day a Franchise player can sign their tender. If they do not sign by 4pm EST on that day, they will not be allowed to play in 2018, thus forfeiting an accrued season, and allowing the Steelers to place another Franchise Tag at the same price of $14.4M. If this occurs, it will hopefully be a non-exclusive franchise tag, so teams can make contract offers and the Steelers can receive 2 first round picks in the exchange.
Bell also needs to be rostered for 6 games in order to accrue a full season and become a free agent again in 2019. This would mean he played under his second franchise tag, so a 3rd franchise tag would be for the average of the top 5 salaries in the NFL for 2018, which will be in the $26-$28M range. Unlikely the Steelers or any team, would tag a running back for that amount.
There are 8 games left in the season, and the Steelers have already mentioned they are giving Bell a 2 week roster exemption, meaning he is not on the roster and is not paid during that time. I could not find clarification in the CBA agreement(see below for link), but I would think the 2 week roster exemption could count against his active games needed to become a free agent. If that is so, Bell must sign by 5PM EST Wednesday November 7th (tomorrow). Otherwise, if the roster exemption does count against his active game status, and he signs after Thursday or by November 13th, Bell will not accrue an active season for 2018. In this case, there would be 7 games remaining minus the 2 week roster exemption, giving him 5 active games, when he requires 6 for the season to count.
Since Bell has already tweeted "Fairwell Miami”, he is leaving his favorite training/ R&R area of choice. It’s an indication that he may be in route this week to sign his tender. We will find out tomorrow if he does sign, otherwise he may have to tweet "Farewell” to his 2018 season...
