Le’Veon Bell came to the Jets at a bargain, relatively speaking.
When Bell agreed to sign the Jets’ four-year, $52.5 million offer with $25 million in guaranteed money, it was widely speculated the deal fell in line with his value of around $13 million per year. But upon further review, the Jets got Bell for an incredible deal.
Bell’s contract is effectively a two-year, $26 million deal. During those two years, the 26-year-old will make $14.5 million in 2019 and $11.5 million in 2020. After that, the Jets could cut Bell and would only be on be hook for a $4 million dead cap hit.
Bell seems to be excited about his contract, calling it “a beautiful deal” despite it being less than anticipated and less than the five-year, $70 million contract the Steelers offered him in July of 2018.
Here’s the breakdown of Bell’s contract, according to The Daily News’ Manish Mehta:
- Signing Bonus: $8 million
- Fully guaranteed: $25 million
- 2019 Base Salary: $2 million
- 2020 Base Salary: $6.5 million
- 2021 Base Salary: $10 million
- 2022 Base Salary: $9.5 million
- Cap Charges: $8.5 million (2019), $13.5 million (2020), $15.5 million (2021), $15 million (2020)
There are also incentives built into Bell’s contract. He can earn up to $1.5 million every season based on his rushing and receiving totals, as well as how the Jets fare in the postseason. In the final three years of his deal from 2020-2022, Bell can also earn $550,000 for rushing and receiving yards and winning NFL Offensive Player of the Year and NFL MVP.
The Jets also built seemingly holdout proof incentives into Bell’s contract, though that didn’t stop him from sitting out in Pittsburgh. Bell will earn a $31,250 roster bonus payment every game he’s on the 46-man gameday roster over the course of his four-year deal all four years, which is up to an additional $500,000 each year from 2019-2022. Once all of his guaranteed money runs out after the 2020 season, Bell can earn training camp bonuses of $3 million in 2021 and 2022.
Bell will drastically alter the Jets offense in 2019 and beyond. And after inspecting the deal he signed, the Jets were wise to grab a player of his caliber on a relatively nice contract.
