Feb 14, 2016 4 min read

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There is a misguided sentiment out there with some that the Steelers shouldn’t attempt to lock up running back Le’Veon Bell to a long-term deal.

The thinking that drives this theory is that the Steelers’ offense was just fine with DeAngelo Williams at running back and that Bell is somehow injury prone.

Neither could be farther from the truth.

While the Steelers’ offense was OK with Williams at running back, it wasn’t as dynamic as it can be when Bell is playing.

Bell is the best all-around running back in the league. When he’s on the field, you can pencil him in for 100 total yards. In fact, in five full games he played in 2015, he averaged 129 total yards per game. And Ben Roethlisberger was on the field with him in just one of those games before leaving with in injury in the third quarter.

Also consider this: Bell will turn just 24 years old later this week. He’s got plenty of prime years left in him.

What’s Bell worth?

Well, that is where things get interesting.

Retiring Marshawn Lynch has the biggest cap hit among running backs for the 2016 season at $11.5-million. Adrian Peterson is next at $11 million. The next three are Jonathan Stewart ($9.55 million), Arian Foster ($8.925 million) and DeMarco Murray ($8 million).

From there, things fall off steeply. LeSean McCoy ($7.675 million) and Jamaal Charles ($5.3 million) are the only other running backs in the league who have a cap hit of more than $5 million in 2016.

And only Lynch, Peterson, Murray and Foster have base salaries of more than $5 million.

In 2017, Peterson, Murray, McCoy and Stewart will be the only running backs with a base salary of more than $5 million. The No. 5 running back in terms of base pay will be Ryan Matthews at $4 million.

More importantly, though, are the average salaries of the top five running backs. Led by Peterson’s average of $14 million and with Lynch’s $12 million average off the books, the average salary of the top five running backs will be $9.27 million – barring a running back getting a major deal this offseason.

That would make the cost of placing the franchise tag on Bell less than the $10.93 million it would have cost to do so in the 2015 offseason.

Some might look at that and point out that running backs aren’t as valuable as they once were. But that’s simply not the case.

In fact, it’s quite the opposite for the good ones. Peterson and others are still very valuable players. If you’ve got a stud running back, it’s costly to keep him. But it’s not impossible.

And as quarterback Ben Roethlisberger ages, Bell will become more and more important in the Steelers’ offense.

As for people saying that Bell is injury prone, well, that’s simply not the case, either.

If you look at the injuries he’s suffered since joining the Steelers, they are all ligament issues: a sprained foot as a rookie; a sprained knee in 2014 and a torn MCL in 2015.

If Bell were, for example, suffering hamstring, groin or soft-tissue other issues, that would be one thing. But he’s had some bad luck in terms of the injuries he has suffered.

That has to turn around for him at some point.

The Steelers have a dynamic player in Bell, one who is just as dynamic, in fact, as Antonio Brown. And in Bell, they have a player who has not yet even come close to reaching his prime.

Finding a way to keep him on the roster for years to come should be a priority.