I signed second biggest RB contract ever worth $52.5m after year holdout but was cut after 17 games

Le’Veon Bell was on the top of the mountain heading into the 2018 season.

The ultra-talented Pittsburgh Steelers running back was coming off an All-Pro season and was expected to sign one of the biggest contracts the position had ever seen.

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Then the Steelers decided to use the franchise tag on Bell for the second straight year, worth $14.5million. Bell refused to play on it again, and took one of the boldest stands in NFL history.

He sat out the entire 2018 season.

A year went by and the Steelers washed their hands free from Bell, letting him walk in free agency. He had finally found the contract he was looking for when the New York Jets came along and signed him to a four-year, $52.5m contract, with $35m guaranteed.

The contract made him the second highest paid running back in the NFL, behind only Los Angeles Rams’ Todd Gurley and his four-year, $60m contract extension and $45m guaranteed.

Unfortunately for Bell, hindsight is 20/20 and by sitting out the entirety of the 2018 season, he forfeited over $14m that he would never get back.

He even reportedly walked away from $48m in the first three years of a deal that Pittsburgh offered him before the season had begun. With the Jets, he would only get $45m guaranteed.

Bell’s tenure in New York was short-lived

He would last less than two seasons as a member of Gang Green, playing 15 games in 2019, before only two in 2020 before asking for a trade and eventually getting released on October 13.

In early October of 2020, Bell had liked a tweet suggesting that the Jets trade him and when head coach Adam Gase was asked about that, he begrudgingly moaned.

“I hate that’s the route that we go with all of this instead of just talking to me about it,” Gase said. “But it is the way guys want to do it nowadays.”

Bell has since publicly called out Gase for hampering his career, specifically for Gase’s play-calling.

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The Bell era in New York finished with 863 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns in a total of 17 games. A disastrous partnership for all parties involved.

Bell would get cups of coffee with the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but nothing substantial or worthy of note.

It can be argued that the day he decided to sit out and forego an entire season in the middle of his prime, was the day that his career effectively ended.

His glory days as a Steeler lasted for five seasons when he was on the field, teaming up with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and All-Pro wideout Antonio Brown. The three of them formed the Killer B’s, creating one of the best offenses in the NFL.

Eventually Bell left town, and Brown was quick to follow. Roethlisberger eventually retired, and fast forward to 2025, it’s been nearly a decade since head coach Mike Tomlin and company last won a playoff game.

A fact that seems unfathomable, but the Steelers have not won a playoff game since 2016, when every member of the Killer B’s were still on the roster.

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The situation that unfolded between Bell, the Steelers and Jets can still be felt in today’s NFL, specifically when it comes to paying running backs, and for players to sit out entire years.

For starters, no one has done that since Bell. And while there are a handful of running backs who have seen big paydays, teams are more savvy when it comes to paying a position that has an extremely high turnover (and injury) rate.

No one is looking to take a page out of Bell’s playbook. Missing a season is way too valuable and never worth the lost cost. Just ask Bell if he would do it again.

Chances are, he would be playing in 2018.

But then again, hindsight is 20/20.