The Pittsburgh Steelers' last off season was a rough one to say the least. Team drama was littering the locker room, some of the most noteworthy being that of star running back Le'Veon Bell. The contract disputes were quite worrying, and were so extreme to the point that Bell sat out training camp and preseason games.
Building on to that, before the Steelers divisional playoff game loss to the Jaguars, Bell was quoted interview saying that he would retire or sit out the entire 2018 season if he were to once again be franchised tagged.
Since those events, however, attitude in the organization has drastically increased. Potentially due to the firing of OC Todd Haley, QB Ben Roethlisberger has said he would like to remain in Pittsburgh for three more seasons rather than retiring, WR Martavis Bryant says he would like to return to the Steelers rather than leaving in the off season, and Bell has now claimed that contract talks are "much closer than they were last season."
Now that it appears that Bell will be returning with a long term deal, we can be expecting a lot of arguably the best running back in the National Football League in coming seasons.
Any football fans who watch Bell know what a danger on the football field he is, whether it be on the ground or through the air. He is also only 25 years old, so he is still nearing the prime of his career. He has made arguably the most noticeable impact on a Steelers offense at that position of any player in the history of the team. No player before has made a team's chances of winning drop as much as Bell's absences do. The Steelers are nearly undefeated when Bell has over 20 carries in a game, and have lost nearly every game that he does not have over 20 carries. There were also several games this season that were either lost or nearly lost partially due to a lack of action from Bell.
Jerome Bettis, Franco Harris, Willie Parker, none of them hold a candle to the immediate impact that Bell has had. If his play continues the way that it has, there is no doubt that Bell will become the leading rusher in Steelers history by a mile, and potentially even a top ten receiver.
