Le'Veon Bell wants $15 million per year. He has held firm on that number, he has rapped about it, and it will be the number that dominates almost every story surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers this season. The team has approached that number, rightfully or not, in negotiations, but a deal may not get done if they don't actually hit it. But if you ask one cap expert, that's far more than Bell is worth on the open market.

Spotrac is a site dedicated solely to salary cap information in several sports. They have a tool that measures market value according to other players at someone's position and their own production. And in their view, Bell's market value is a five-year deal worth approximately $53.5 million, or $10.7 million per year for the life of the contract.

How did they get to that number? It started with contracts signed by players of similar statistical backgrounds at the same points in their careers. They found four deals that were relatively similar: those belonged to Lamar Miller, Matt Forte, LeSean McCoy and Devonta Freeman. The most expensive of those contracts was Freeman's, which was for $8.25 million per year over five seasons.

Bell is a more productive player than any of them, including Freeman, but the question is by how much. They measured the production of each player in the two years leading up to the signing of the contract, and found that on average, Bell was about 10 percent more productive. They gave him a rating of 86.3, compared to an average of 78.4 for the other four players combined. That would account for some of the boost in Bell's market value to $10.7 million, and the rest would be explained by market conditions. The salary cap rises each season, and a high cap means that more money is a smaller overall percentage of the cap. Bell would theoretically sign his deal last, which would mean his deal would come in years with higher caps.

That still does not come close to the $15 million per season that Bell wants, and it shows just how unrealistic his demands are. The Steelers recognize what a special and unique talent he is, but he does not warrant a contract that would pay him nearly twice as much per season as anyone else at his position in the entire NFL. The notion of being paid as the NFL's best running back and as a No. 2 wide receiver has no precedent because the NFL's best running back has almost always provided value as a receiver.

Take Freeman. In the season before signing his deal for $8.25 million per season, he caught 54 passes. He also ran for 4.8 yards per game. Bell has never run for more than 4.9 yards per carry, and his career high is 85 catches. There is a gap there, but it's not worth $6.75 million per season.

Bell deserves to be made a very rich man off of his play in recent seasons. He is arguably the best overall running back in football. But he is not so transcendent that he deserves to be paid practically quarterback money. There is no metric that suggests he is that valuable.

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