Pittsburgh Steelers: Antonio Brown’s restructured contract hurts Le’Veon Bell’s fanbase

Antonio Brown jump on the re-sign Le’Veon Bell bandwagon and helped the Pittsburgh Steelers find some extra cap space.

At this point, Le’Veon Bell’s reputation in Pittsburgh is basically dead. Even if the fans, and the team, want him on the field, they don’t want his personality.

The NFL is a business, though, which means Bell is going to get his money. The franchise tag means nothing right now, and despite Bell’s constant complaints about getting paid, the Steelers are doing their part in finding funds for his needs.

Brown’s restructured contract didn’t hurt him. Yes, he gave Pittsburgh $9.7 million in cap space, but he also awarded himself more guaranteed money.

What this did was give Pittsburgh enough money to sign Bell. With upwards of $18 million in free cap room now available, the team has enough space to sign the running back, hopefully with some left over cash.

No one knows the number Bell is looking for, though. Last season, he turned down a $13.3 million a year deal worth $42 million over the first three years. So, the speculations that Bell was looking for somewhere near $14 million a year is still short.

Pittsburgh is probably going to have to hand Bell closer to 16 of their remaining $18 million. Leaving a little over $2 million in cap space, they’ll still need to make a roster move to free up enough space to sign a big name free agent.

The best advice for Bell is simple – stop talking. The more he posts about not being wanted or detailing rejected contracts is only going to upset more people.

Steelers fans love Bell on the field, but for the second offseason, he’s losing more and more support from his surrounding cast.

Brown giving up money for Bell isn’t helping, either. AB is the most loved player in Pittsburgh and it’s clear why. He shows up on the field, never complains off it and now handed his team even more money to get their franchise running back.

Those are the players Pittsburgh keeps around. Not that they aren’t going to keep Bell, because they are. But it’s becoming more of having to keep him for a Super Bowl than wanting to keep him to give him a Super Bowl.

By the end of the offseason, Bell isn’t going to have many fans left. Yes, he continues to make sure Pittsburgh knows how much he loves his fans, but when you keep asking for money you’re not going to get much love.

It’s simply becoming a little annoying. Bell is going to get paid and everyone knows he’s going to get paid. If he continues to complain about it not happening right now, and he keeps raising his dollar amount, he’s going to continue losing fans.

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It’s not a good offseason for the running back. He’ll earn the love from everyone once the season starts, but the worse this situation continues to get, the more the Steelers and their fans are going to turn Bell into a “just play football” type of player.