The deadline for franchise-tagged players to sign long-term extensions came and went Monday afternoon, and the fallout has been significant. Several star running backs, including Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs have yet to get long-term deals despite arguably being the best players on their respective rosters.
Paying tailbacks has never been a high priority for NFL teams and few players know that better than Le’Veon Bell, who somehow compared the current situation to a Disney movie.
“Disney a LONG time ago (1998) taught me a valuable lesson about sticking together, go watch ‘A Bug’s Life’ … it’ll put in perspective the running back market .. the running backs are the ants .. I’m Flik (The Inventive Ant) I took ALL the damage from the grasshoppers (Owners),” Bell wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “At the time, no one could see my vision or what I was standing for but all I was doing was just preparing to go against the grasshoppers/owners .. but as a lone inventive ant/RB, I obviously couldn’t beat the grasshoppers/owners alone ..
“In 2017 & 2018 I was the lone ant, I was Flik .. it was literally ONLY ME .. fast forward 6 years later, now you have multiple ants tryin join the fight against the grasshoppers,” he continued.
For those who don’t know, the classic Pixar film centers around an ant colony who are forced to collect food for grasshoppers. The movie stars Flik, an outcast ant who relies on his inventions. Flik eventually convinces the ants to stand up to the grasshoppers despite their obvious gap in strength. Because at the end of the day, the ants overwhelmed them with their sheer numbers.
Bell is comparing the 1998 film to his 2018 situation with the Steelers, where he refused to play under the franchise tag and sat out the entire year before signing with the Jets the next season. It appears the former star running back thinks players like Barkley and Jacobs will follow in his footsteps to take on the grasshoppers this time around.
