Franchises should spare no expense when paying players

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Courtesy of Tom Grimbert/unsplash.com

In the first half of a 2013 NCAA Elite Eight game, Louisville battled Duke. Louisville guard Kevin Ware flew through the air in an attempt to close out on a shooter and missed the block. As the shot fell, so did Ware, and only one sound was heard. In a freak accident, Ware snapped his leg, leaving the player lying motionless with a bone protruding from his leg. Ware made a full recovery and now plays basketball professionally in England, but the effect on his life could have been so much worse.

This story, and others like it, is why I detest fans who jeer at athletes like Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’veon Bell. Bell has expressed unhappiness with his team and has held out playing until he is either given a new contract he deems fair or is traded. Some may ask why Bell is attempting to negotiate a better contract instead of just taking the money given to him. To those people, I recommend reading up on Joe Theismann, a man who could have been considered the greatest quarterback ever had his career not been abruptly ended, suffering an injury almost identical to Ware’s.

Bell has been one of the best NFL running backs for multiple seasons, and rightfully deserves the money that comes with that. In 2017, Pittsburgh placed the franchise tag on the running back because of contractual disagreements, keeping him from entering free agency for one more season. This is common practice within the NFL and is most often used for more time to negotiate a better contract. However, we are now in year two of the Steelers tagging Bell, and the running back is getting impatient. Bell has refused to report to the team, and since this is the final year of his contract, the Steelers are faced with a dilemma: either wait Bell out and hope he signs a deal but run the risk of losing their star running back for literally nothing, or trade him for picks or players in an attempt to recoup at least some of his value. This has left Steelers fans very much in opposition of Bell, but just because he’s being a headache to the franchise doesn’t mean he’s in the wrong. He’s actually in the right.

Bell is risking his career, and he rightfully believes that his next contract should provide enough money so that if his career were to be ended early, he could provide for himself and his family.

The average NFL career length is 3.3 years. That’s less time than it takes to graduate high school. Bell has been in the league for five seasons and would be playing his sixth, so he’s already pushing it. It’s no secret the NFL is a league with a lot of injuries. More often than not, football players are suited for only one occupation: football. They trade their bodies and futures for our entertainment. It’s time franchises made that trade fair.

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