Jerome Bettis had his own ups and downs with the Steelers, as former head coach Bill Cowher tried to replace the running back seemingly every year of his final five or six seasons in the NFL.
But the Pro Football Hall of Fame member remains committed to seeing his former employer do well. Because of that, he offered some words of wisdom to both the Steelers and running back Le'Veon Bell.
"Neither one of you are as good by yourself as you are together," Bettis told TMZ.com when asked about Bell's contract negotiations with the Steelers.
"The Steelers are not as good as a team if you don't have Le'Veon Bell there as a dual threat. ... But also, Le'Veon, you're not going to be as good going somewhere else because they're not going to have the offensive line, they're not going to have the quarterback, the receivers that they have in Pittsburgh. You have a full cast around you that allows you to be as good as you want to be. Both Le'Veon and the team have to understand that it's in both of their best interests to make the deal that makes sense for both of them."
The two sides have until the NFL's deadline of July 16 to make that happen.
Bell is currently slated to earn $14.5 million in 2018 after the Steelers placed the franchise tag on him for the second consecutive season. He turned down a deal worth a reported $60 million over five years last year and played for the franchise salary of just over $12 million.
Bell, 26, said two weeks ago on the NFL Network that he feels the two sides are much closer this year than they were last and remains hopeful he will get a deal done.
Bettis said he has no issues with the team giving Bell a long-term extension. He feels Bell has several good years remaining.
"I don't think a four- or five-year contract is anything the Steelers need to worry about because of his age," Bettis said. "He's going to be able to produce into his early 30s."