Bell’s contract takes a back seat to ‘more urgent business’
ORLANDO, Fla. — Kevin Colbert was sitting on a padded wicker chair Sunday, the morning sun filtering through the palmetto trees and splashing the blue umbrellas that surround the swimming pool at the Ritz Carlton resort. He was wearing a short-sleeve plaid shirt and looking very much relaxed in the setting of the NFL owners’meetings.
But Colbert’s comfortable demeanor has nothing to do with the lull in negotiations on a long-term contract for running back Le’Veon Bell. It’s not as though the Steelers are taking a more relaxed approach. Rather, it’s just that they’ve been more busy with free agency and draft preparationsthe past several weeks.
However, Colbert, the team’s general manager, said he remains optimistic the team can work out a new contract for their All-Pro running back and not have to use the franchise tag that was placed on him for the second year in arow.
“At this point, after we tagged him, we moved into other matters of free agency,” Colbert said. “It’s really not anything we’re choosing to ignore, it’s just the circumstances of other things that need taken care of at the moment. Free agency takes precedence, but we’re also trying to keep up with our draft operation as well. That may be something we address after the more urgent business is takencare of.”
Colbert added, “I anticipate us continuing that process once we get through the free agency period and maybe even the draft. The draft could changethings on both sides.”
Colbert did not necessarily mean the Steelers could draft a running back to replace Bell. He meant the Steelers could draft a player that would allow them to cut a veteran and free up cap space to help get the Bell deal accomplished.
Asked if rescinding the franchise tag on Bell is a possibility, Colbert said, “I would never remove anything from a possibility. Is it a probability?No.”
Colbert would prefer the Steelers not go through another training camp without Bell, who said he will sit out at least into the start of the regularsseason if he doesn’t have a contract. But Colbert said there’s nothing the Steelers can do if Bell is without a contract or hasn’t signed the franchisetag. “He doesn’t have to show up,” Colbert said. “We’ll deal with it when it happens. Our wish is that everybody is in camptogether, growing, so we enter that first game as a full unit and not where one is workingback in it.”
Meanwhile, Colbert said the Steelers’ plans in the April draft have not changed just because they signed inside linebacker Jon Bostic and safety Morgan Burnett in free agency.
The Steelers could still be interested in addressing those positions in the early rounds, particularly inside linebacker afterthe loss of Ryan Shazier.
“It really doesn’t,” Colbert said. “Anything we did, we prefaced with that it won’t change our strategy. That won’t change anything what we’re thinking about. Obviously we have different people on the team now, [but] we’re still preparing as we did every year, how we can best improve the team.”
Colbert said the addition of Burnett, who was signed to a three-year, $14.35 million deal, gives the Steelers flexibility at the position because Burnett and Sean Davis are capable of playing either free safety or strong safety.
Burnett is primarily a strong safety — Davis’ position last season — but the Steelers were already considering moving Davis to free safety once they released veteranMike Mitchell.
“I think they both have inter-changeability, which is important,”Colbert said.
Colbert said the Steelers were attracted to Burnett, 29, because of his versatility and experience.
“Those were the two main issues because we can take a guy like Morgan Burnett and insert him in the defense with Sean Davis, and there’s versatility with Sean as well. Once we get to know Morgan, that versatility will become even moreimportant.”
Shazier update
Could the Steelers re-do the contract of injured linebacker Ryan Shazier to create more room under the salary cap and extend his deal another year?
Colbert said it’s always a possibility, but quickly added “that’s so far down the road” it is not part of the team’s thought process.
Shazier is scheduled to count $8.718 million against the cap in 2018, which is the final year of his five-year contract he signed as a firstround draft pick in 2014.