Bucky Brooks Thinks Steelers Should Prioritize New Deal WIth Big Ben Over Bell

Bucky Brooks Thinks Steelers Should Prioritize New Deal WIth Big Ben Over Bell

By Matthew Marczi
Posted on June 27, 2018

The Pittsburgh Steelers only have a few weeks left if they intend to sign running back Le’Veon Bell to a long-term contract. If it doesn’t come about by the middle of July, then it is literally not going to happen this year, and the odds of the two sides working out a long-term contract before he hits unrestricted free agency in 2019 are incredibly low.

In other words, we’re getting right to the heart of that sliver of a window that will most likely decide whether or not Bell will be here next year. But Bucky Brooks thinks they should be focusing on getting a deal done with a different player on the roster: quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

“Considering the quarterback market is expected to keep rising — with Aaron Rodgers and others poised to get paid in the near future — the Steelers would be wise to pony up big bucks on No. 7 sooner than later”, Brooks wrote recently. “Even before they take care of Bell? Yeah, I think so”.

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i'm a Mason R. fan hoping he can replace Ben when Ben's contract is up.

Interesting situation they're in. If they pay Bell the money he wants (14.5 Million) I wonder if there's enough room to give Ben another big contract.

It'll be interesting to see what happens either way. I hope that Ben plays another 2-3 years at least, so long as his play doesn't take a nose dive. I really want Rudolph to hold a clipboard, watch, and learn.

If it was me personally, I'd let Bell play under the franchise tag this season, and then let him go out and get overpaid by some other franchise. We can plug in guys to make up for some of Bell's production, we might not have one player that's as flexible as an individual player as Bell is, but by committee I think we'd be able to at least be close to Bell's production. Bell is a special player, but I don't want us to lose other talent because we're up against the cap because we paid a RB out of market.