Shortly after Monday’s deadline for franchise-tagged players to sign multi-year deals passed without the Steelers and running back Le’Veon Bell agreeing to a deal, there was a report that the Steelers offered Bell a five-year deal worth $70 million.
The report also said Bell stood to make $30 million over the first two years of the deal -- he stands to make $14.5 million under the terms of the tag -- but there was no word on how much of the money was fully guaranteed. Bell’s agent Adisa Bakari didn’t reveal that amount during a Tuesday appearance on Sirius XM NFL Radio, but did say the report wasn’t accurate before getting to the matter of the guaranteed money.
“No matter what that final number was and I am certainly not saying that what has been reported is accurate because it’s not, quite frankly -- the most important element of it is the guarantee,” Bakari said. “You couple that with the traditional way in which Pittsburgh does it’s deals, which, at the end of the day, nothing’s guaranteed after the first year.”
Several players have talked about their desire for more guaranteed money in contracts and Bakari called it a “CBA issue” that extends well beyond Bell’s own negotiations with the Steelers.