After declining a 5 year, $70 million contract from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Le’Veon Bell bet on himself by sitting out the 2018 season, foregoing a guaranteed $14.5 million payday. Bell on Wednesday signed a 4 year, $52.5 million contract with the New York Jets and Bell’s market, as expected, never developed to the point that Bell and his agent Adisa Bakari insisted it would. That $17-$18 million a year payday Bell sought wasn’t out there and the market was so small, Bakari was forced to leak to the media of fake interest from teams like the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs, amongst others, to try to get the Jets to up their offer. Bakari got San Francisco to make a late push but the 49ers offer is believed to have capped out at $40 million over 4 years.

Meanwhile, the real numbers of the Bell contract are now trickling in……

How bad did Bell sold himself short by not accepting the Steelers offer or at least playing last season out on the franchise tag. Not to mention the tax difference of playing in Pittsburgh compared to New York.

Per Breer here’s years 1-3 breakdown compared to the Steelers $70 million offer Bell refused to take that led to him sitting out the season:

Year 1: Steelers – $19.5M | Jets – $14.5M

Year 2: Steelers – $33M | Jets – $26M

Year 3: Steelers – $45M | Jets – $39.5M