Chicago Bears Rumors: Potential trade scenarios for Le’Veon Bell
Trade Scenario Number One: Tag-and-Trade
As outlined in the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, if a franchise tagged player is signed to an offer sheet that is unmatched by the player’s current team, the player’s new team must send two first-round picks to the player’s former team.
What would need to happen is this: the Bears would need to sign Bell to an offer sheet, not the franchise tag. However, this cannot happen until next season, under one condition.
Bell is destined to be an unrestricted free agent next season. The Bears, as well as the other 31 teams in the league, will be able to make offers to Bell once free agency begins. The Steelers do not have the luxury of having the opportunity to match any offer.
The only way that Bell can become a restricted free-agent is if the Steelers signed Bell to a new, short-term contract. The deal would have to make Bell a restricted free agent after the season if the two teams want to work out a deal. The deal would not have to follow along with the outlined franchise tag deal, as Bell wouldn’t be on the franchise tag.
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A short term deal would be appealing to both sides, as it would allow Bell to test free agency, while it would also allow the Steelers to match any offer.
If a deal, which is pretty unlikely, did come to fruition, then the Steelers would be trading the rights to Bell. The Bears and Bell would then be able to work out a contract, rather than waiting for him to hit free agency.
The straight-up cost for at least one season of Bell would be pretty simple; two first-round picks. The Bears would be losing a significant amount of high picks, but they wouldn’t have to stretch the picks out past two years or several rounds. From the Bears view, it’d be worth it if it meant the opportunity to have the first crack at Bell, assuming the Bears aren’t afraid to pay him.
Additionally, the Bears would get to hold on to Jordan Howard, maybe shifting Bell into more of a highly-utilized hybrid alongside Howard.
Again, this one is really unlikely. Several things would need to fall into place, and it doesn’t look like any of those things are going to happen. Remember, this is hypothetical, its only a scenario.
With that being said, here’s a more straight forward scenario: