Steelers and Bell each have strong principles

offer that easily would have made him the NFL’s highestpaid running back. He wanted more — at least more guaranteed — because he’s convinced he’s just as valuable as a receiver as he is as a back. He will play this season under the franchise tag for $14.5 million and, if he stays healthy and is productive again, almost certainly will cash in for more as a free agent in 2019.

I also admire how the Steelers do business and believe it has been instrumental to their sustained success. They will pay what they think is fair value, but they won’t overpay. It doesn’t matter if you’re Hall of Fame legend Franco Harris or Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Cowher. They’re committed to their principles, as well. So what happens now? I laughed at a national report Monday that suggested Bell will sit out half of this season to preserve his body and enhance his value as a free agent next year. There is just no way. Bell isn’t walking away from weekly game checks of more than $850,000. He won’t make up that lost money in his next contract. The reported threat was nothing more than agent-speak designed to try to get the Steelers to raise their offer. The team doesn’t operate that way. It doesn’t blink in contract negotiations. It will let a player sit. Ask Mike Merriweather.

I also don’t believe there’s much chance Bell will report to training camp next week even though it would be in his best interests to do so. The better season that he has, the more valuable he will be as a free agent. He started slowly last season after missing camp and the exhibition games, a factor in his yards-per-carry average dipping to 4.0 from 4.9 in the previous two seasons. He admitted it was a bit of a struggle getting in sync with the offense, not so much with the linemen, but with Ben Roethlisberger in the passing game. Reporting next week would give him a jump on the season. It’s not as if he would risk injury in the exhibition games. He surely wouldn’t play in them.

But, again, Bell has great belief in himself. He knows he is in great shape. He is convinced it won’t take him until the fourth game to get rolling, as it did last season. And even if it does and he has the same season he did last year? He still will cash in big as a free agent. He is that good. A team will give him what he wants. I have no doubt.

Bettis is disappointed because he believes Bell and the Steelers need each other.

Bell needs a great quarterback such as Roethlisberger to be successful and needs to be a part of a talented offense that includes Antonio Brown and linemen who, with the exception of Ramon Foster, are signed through at least the 2019 season. Don’t underestimate the value of those linemen. DeMarco Murray knows. He was a terrific running back behind a superb line in Dallas — he was the NFL’s offensive player of the year in 2014 — but his career tailed off after he left for Philadelphia and Tennessee, where he ran behind lesser lines. He retired Friday at 30 after seven NFL seasons.

The Steelers, who are in win-now mode as the clock ticks on the Roethlisberger era, need Bell because of his versatility and production. He is invaluable to their nohuddle offense because he can line up as an extra wide receiver. He is superb at blitz protection. He has been firstteam All-Pro twice. Go back to the Steelers’ run to the AFC championship after the 2016 season when he set franchise postseason rushing records in consecutive games against Miami and Kansas City. The other NFL players voted him the fifthbest player in the league a month ago for a reason.

At least we get to enjoy one more season of watching Bell and his special talents.

“Trust me, 2018 will be my best season to date,” he tweeted after the deadline passed.

I can’t wait to see it.