Philadelphia Eagles shouldn’t consider Le’Veon Bell for short or long term

With the Pittsburgh Steelers looking to possibly deal Le’Veon Bell, let’s hope the Philadelphia Eagles don’t even consider a trade for the running back.

As the Philadelphia Eagles continue to prepare for Sunday’s showdown with the Tennessee Titans, news broke earlier in the day about the team being a potential suitor for Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell.

After holding out of training camp and preseason for a second year in a row to earn a hefty new contract, Bell’s holdout this time around has extended into the regular season, leaving many to believe his time with the Steelers will be over sooner rather than later.

In fact, Pittsburgh has even made it clear they would be open to a trade involving the running back, which is always easier said than done since Bell is currently under the franchise tag, and the Steelers most likely wouldn’t make the asking price cheap.

So what does this have to do with the Eagles? Well, Jason La Canfora reported on Sunday morning how Philadelphia is one of the team expressing interest in the Pittsburgh running back. But if this does in fact happen to be the case, the Eagles may want to think a little extra hard before jumping the gun on Bell.

Yes, Bell has proven to be one of the top running backs over the years, and is an absolute workhorse when it comes to handling carries in the backfield. However, when looking at how successful Philadelphia was last year during their Super Bowl with a strong backfield, do they really want to make a move on a running back like Bell?

Doug Pederson took a page out of the New England Patriots playbook last season by riding the hot hand at running back each week, meaning each week varied when it came to who received the most carries. Philadelphia has been dealing with a few injuries at the running back position through three games, and while Bell may seem like he could provide an immediate boost in the production, the team also has to consider the long-term picture.

Bell has made it clear that he wants to be one of the league’s top paid running backs after receiving the franchise tag in each of the last two seasons, and the Eagles are well aware that if they were to land him in a trade, it would be costly.

When looking at the current list of young running backs that would lose touches along with taking into consideration how any potential money for Bell could be used elsewhere, why would Philadelphia want to even consider this?

Even if Howie Roseman were to take a similar approach to last year in which he made the move to land Bell, and would worry about a potential long-term deal later on, this move just doesn’t seem worth considering for the Eagles, not one bit.