The Pittsburgh Steelers and their uncomfortable situation with star running back Le'Veon Bell took yet another unique turn as of late. With Bell's holdout rolling into the second half of the 2018 NFL season, it's led to speculation about how his future with the team may look. But even going beyond that, the most recent bit of news to come points to his future not likely being with the Steelers.
As things currently stand, Bell's date to return to the team in order to retain eligibility this season is November 13. But regardless of what happens, the Steelers are going to be looking at a lofty price tag if they attempt to franchise tag him for the third time.
It was somewhat of a stunning piece of news brought to light by NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, which states that Bell would be tagged at the quarterback salary number this time. Per NFL.com's Austin Knoblauch:
"My understanding is the NFL management council and the NFL Players' Association, the parties that negotiated the collective bargaining agreement, are on the same page that if Bell were tagged a third time, whether he shows up this season, whether he sits out the entire year, that tag would be at the higher quarterback number, not the lower number similar to what he would be due under the franchise tag this year," Pelissero said on NFL Up To the Minute on Tuesday.
"It would be extremely unlikely for the Steelers to put that higher third franchise tag on Le'Veon Bell. That would set up a scenario where they'd tag him a third time, the number is upwards of $25 million and Bell, if he wanted to, could walk in the day he's tagged, sign it and be owed $25 million for one season."
As you can see, the expectation is that the Steelers will not opt to fork over the $25 million to Bell, which makes sense. Thanks to the emergence of James Conner, who looks like a clear-cut No. 1 running back at the NFL level, this could result in Bell potentially hitting the free-agent market during the 2019 offseason.
If that were to happen, there could be quite a few potential suitors, but we're going to look at a few teams who may very well make a push for the All-Pro running back.
New York Jets
Why not a shiny new offensive weapon to pair up with quarterback Sam Darnold? The Jets also reportedly had interest in Bell when he was available for trade this season, as Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News revealed.
While the Jets have a few running backs on their roster currently, the situation could actually work out somewhat favorably for the team. Bilal Powell is set to become a free agent this offseason, so they're immediately losing the player expected to be the pass-catching back. Although Powell suffered an injury in 2018, it's tough to envision them bringing him back if Bell is an option.
Beyond that, the Jets could opt to release current starter Isaiah Crowell with $2 million in dead cap. It's a move that would free up $5 million in cap total, resulting in $3 million savings after the dead cap hit. The Jets currently hold the second-most cap space for 2019 at just over $106.6 million, according to Spotrac.
*Note: All salary cap information courtesy of Spotrac.
Oakland Raiders coach Jon Gruden
Following a busy Week 17 of the NFL season which features plenty of games with major playoff implications, the nightcap provides a crucial matchup as well. The Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans are both battling for a playoff position and the two meet in primetime to decide who goes dancing.
As long as there isn't a tie, then one of the two teams playing on Sunday Night Football this week will be heading to the playoffs. While the Titans would have an immediate edge due to the home-field advantage, some bad news came to light ahead of the matchup. As ESPN's Adam Schefter revealed, quarterback Marcus Mariota will miss this game due to a nerve condition caused by a "stinger" which could impact him long term if it gets worse.
"Mariota is officially listed as questionable and reportedly will test his arm in pregame warm-ups. But one source told ESPN that an independent spine specialist has warned the Titans that further damage would put Mariota's ability to throw the football at significant risk beyond this weekend." Schefter stated.
This means Blaine Gabbert will get the nod as the team's starter in Week 17 and sets up an interesting situation. Not only do the Titans' chances of winning this game decrease with Mariota out of the lineup, but it impacts the fantasy football outlook as well. Obviously, season-long leagues that are still playing won't feature Gabbert in starting lineups more than likely, but daily games will be worth talking about.
And that's what we'll cover here, as the Sunday night matchup is a good one and we're taking a deep dive into the DraftKings showdown slate. It's the final regular-season showdown slate, so there should be plenty of interest in this matchup.
For those who haven't played a showdown before, these are single-game options which feature a different set of rules (to some extent) than regular DFS games. In turn, you'll want to take a different approach to building lineups for these games which I'll evaluate as we move forward with different options.
To cover this game I'll lay out the top picks and three different DraftKings lineups. As always, there is a range of different game options for this matchup, including single-entry tournaments, multi-entry events (150-max, 20-max and others) as well as additional choices beyond that. In order to cover each base, the lineups offered will be an optimal, 150-max and single entry.
Before the picks and lineups, I'll first lay out how DraftKings showdowns work and then evaluate the bonus spot. These games feature a captain spot which is one player who costs 1.5-times the regular amount. You choose one player to go in this spot per lineup and it comes with a bonus of 1.5x as well.
– Six total players (one captain, five flex players)
– Captain selection costs 1.5 times standard salary but scores 1.5 times the standard points
– Can choose from any position (QB, RB, WR, TE, K, DST)
– $50,000 salary cap
– You can use more than one quarterback
First up I'll break down the captain spot in this game and also the thought process for which players to build around.
Baltimore Ravens
When I was running through a list of potential teams for Bell, there were a few that jumped out. Some likely didn't have the salary cap space or had other names in place who make more sense financially for their current situation. But when I landed on the Baltimore Ravens, there was interest for an obvious reason.
The Ravens offense hasn't exactly lived up to the billing as of late, and if they could inject some life into the ground game, it'd go a long way. Oh, and the idea of Bell facing the Steelers twice a year for the foreseeable future? It's almost like an added bonus for a Ravens team who'd immediately make life tougher for their biggest rival.
All of that is fun to talk about, but what matters more is the actual running back situation. Or, after this year, technically we can call it a running back search.
Current running backs Javorius Allen, Ty Montgomery and Alex Collins (RFA) all set to be free agents in 2019. It's eye-opening that they're slated to lose this many options in their backfield in one offseason. There's a chance they could keep Collins or re-sign one of the others, of course, but through the first half of the 2018 season, the Ravens run game has been far below average.
After their first nine games of the season, Baltimore ranked No. 27 in the league with 92.7 rushing yards per game. Whether it's Joe Flacco or Lamar Jackson under center in 2019 and beyond, the Ravens need to add a running back capable of providing a punch offensively. Bell is the definition of that and he'd be an ideal fit.
As far as the money side goes, the Ravens have a bit more than $35.4 million in cap space, per Spotrac. So their available money isn't even close to the other previous names on this list. With that said, Baltimore does have 44 current players under contract through 2019. And with a quarterback on a rookie deal, that would mean the team wouldn't have to fork over a huge deal to Jackson (if he earns it) for a few seasons.
*Note: All salary cap information courtesy of Spotrac.
San Francisco 49ers
With how impressive Matt Breida has looked when healthy during the 2018 NFL season, I was tempted to not put the 49ers on this list. Although Breida likely won't even be the team's starter in 2019 regardless of how things play out, he's at least a factor in the situation to some extent.
I think the 49ers are likely one of the longer shots to sign Bell, mainly due to the fact that I can't envision them spending in back-to-back seasons on running backs. No, I didn't forget about Jerick McKinnon, who's in an interesting spot currently as well. Although San Francisco choosing to move on from McKinnon, who tore his ACL prior to the season, would be surprising, it's not out of the realm of possibility.
Based on the numbers, though, I don't actually think the 49ers need to release McKinnon at this point. The 26-year-old back only has a $5.75 million cap hit in 2019, making him somewhat affordable. If they keep McKinnon but opt to release him the year after, it would cost $4 million in dead cap while saving $4.4 million in cap space at that point. If released in 2019, that dead cap number would come in at $6 million.
Taking things one step further is the fact that Breida only has one more season on his contract beyond this year. In turn, the 49ers could go into next season with Bell, McKinnon and Breida and sort out the best route to go after that year. They'll certainly have options and there's a good chance Breida could prove to be a valuable trade asset.
The 49ers are losing both Alfred Morris and Raheem Mostert to free agency this offseason so the addition of Bell would make a fair amount of sense. Mostert has shown glimpses of big upside in his own right, but he may be able to fetch a solid contract in free agency, even after an unfortunate arm injury ended his 2018 season at the halfway point.
As Spotrac shows, there's plenty of reason to believe the 49ers will have the money to afford the former Steelers running back in 2019 as well. They currently sit with just north of $63 million in cap space and 46 players on the roster for next season. Financially it should work and Bell joining Jimmy Garoppolo to complete the San Francisco backfield is likely a sight Kyle Shanahan only thought he'd see in his dreams.
*Note: All salary cap information courtesy of Spotrac.
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