Le’Veon Bell aggressively questions why ‘bottom tier’ QB Daniel Jones got paid $30,000,000 more than ‘top tier’ Saquon Barkley amid RB pay fiasco
Le’Veon Bell is outraged at the New York Giants for offering Daniel Jones an inflated contract while underpaying Saquon Barkley.
The NFL running back market has been downright outrageous this offseason. While it has been nothing but a field day for the athletes who play different positions in the league, as their contracts seem to be getting bigger and better but for running backs, the situation has just remained stagnant if not gotten worse.
This average salary for a running back dropped down to $1.81 million in 2023, this offseason, Josh Jacobs and Saquon Barkley who are arguably two of the best running backs in the NFL, their teams did not offer them enticing deals as both of them stand to make an estimated $11 million this year. While the top running backs in the league have spoken out against the bias in pay against their position. The latest individual to speak out against this unfair pay gap is Le’Veon Bell, the former RB for the Kansas City Chiefs.
He spoke to AP NFL and shared his uncensored thoughts on the situation surrounding Saquon Barkley and the New York Giants. In the NFL, or sports in general, there has always been a belief amongst athletes that you never question or object to a fellow athlete getting paid. Irrespective of the fact that they deserved it or not, you ought to respect their worth. However, in this case, Le’Veon Bell believes it is high time that RB contracts be compared to that of QB contracts.
Le’Veon Bell does not understand how Daniel Jones is worth more than Saquon Barkley
Le’Veon Bell. (IMAGE: USA TODAY)
Le’Veon Bell said, “That was a written rule but I thought it was an unwritten rule (objecting and comparing the contracts you get to that of your teammates)… I thought you weren’t supposed to count people’s money but everybody was in my pocket worried about what I was making. Everybody was like…’You turned down this, you turned down that,’…everybody wants to be happy, everybody wants to do what they feel like what they are valued at.“
Bell goes on to share his thoughts regarding Daniel Jones’ contract extension with the Giants, which pays him $40 million a year. “Daniel Jones is in the bottom tier of NFL quarterbacks, he is not mediocre, there are average quarterbacks and he is in the bottom tier… I’m just being real for everybody who is hearing it. Saquon is in the top tier of NFL RBs. How does that make sense?”
This goes to show how teams prioritize and value their quarterbacks as being more important than RBs. Take Saquon Barkley off last year’s NY Giants team, now does this team make the playoffs? Most definitely not. Barkley has shown the team how important and pivotal he is to the organization and he does deserve to be paid a lot more, considering he is pretty good at his job.
However, the one thing that running backs do not have going for them is the fact that the position is very unpredictable. Can a RB who had a 2,000 yard season today do it again tomorrow? How many years can he be able to perform consistently? Considering how many hits RBs take per game, they are more prone to injury than the QB and due to these reasons, teams are reluctant to lock them in for long periods of time.
