Former NFL star Le’Veon Bell is sounding off on the disrespect running backs are currently facing in the league.
If there was any doubt that RBs weren’t valued in the NFL anymore, look no further than Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs. While undoubtedly among the best players in the NFL, they did a very poor job of convincing their teams they were worth more than the franchise tag.
Bell had his own struggles back in 2018, doing something unprecedented back then as he sat out the entire season because of a contract dispute with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Pittsburgh franchise-tagged Bell after he rushed for close to 2,000 yards in his fifth year to get his third All-Pro selection. Having nearly lost an entire season due to an ACL injury, the player wanted a long-term contract to secure him from loss in case of another serious injury.
The Steelers didn’t budge and he signed with the New York Jets after a year. While he got a significant contract from NY, he was cut during his second season with the team and was out of the league by 2021.
Now, Barkley and Jacobs are in similar situations, having failed to get a satisfactory deal before this week’s deadline, though they came close. Tweeting in response to the development, Bell compared himself to the character Flik from Disney’s ‘A Bug’s Life’ while comparing the owners to the grasshoppers.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
Clearly, things didn’t go so well for Bell and, as unfortunate as it is, Barkley and Jacobs might not fare any better.
NFL GMs simply don’t see the value in paying a running back a sizable sum when they can replace him just as easily. Some of the best running backs in the league were picked from the later rounds or even went undrafted. Sadly, RBs hold very little leverage in the NFL anymore.
