Le'Veon Bell to play under tag again, likely done with Steelers after 2018

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell will play under the franchise tag for a second straight season.

What It Means:

The two sides failed to reach a long-term agreement, and as a result, Bell likely won't return to the Steelers after this season, his agent, Adisa Bakari, told ESPN's Adam Schefter. "It became clear the Steelers wanted to pay the position, not the player," Bakari said. Last season, Bell sat out all of training camp and didn't report to the Steelers until nine days before Week 1, and Schefter reported earlier Monday that the 26-year-old running back may sit out the first half of the season if a deal wasn't reached. He will yield $14.544 million under the tag in 2018.

As of now, numberFire's models expect Bell to play a full season and have him rated as the top overall running back in our preseason fantasy football rankings. We project him for 1,398.8 yards and 10.15 touchdowns on the ground, with another 662.9 yards and 2.79 touchdowns on 81.5 catches.