Le'Veon Bell Is Now In A Rap Beef With Teammate Bud Dupree As He Holds Out For A Long Term Deal

Initial diss by Bud Dupree:

Le'Veon Bell's response: 

here's y'all response from snapchat@AB84 @Bud_Dupree @RyanShazier @jharrison9292 @VinnyVidiVici98 #Hitrow □□ pic.twitter.com/kAVWFLSt31

— Le'Veon Bell (@L_Bell26) August 30, 2017

Bud Dupree's response:

Bud Dupree responds to Le'Veon Bell □ pic.twitter.com/XjrKEwVNAC

— Alysha Tsuji (@AlyshaTsuji) August 31, 2017

For the most, I'm pretty sure this is all in good fun. After all, what's a couple mildly derogatory bars between buddies? I'm not exactly sure that Le'Veon Bell was laughing when Bud Dupree's punchline undercut his importance in the offense, but I also don't think a lighthearted rap beef is going to cause some massive divide in the locker room. Simply put, this offense vs. defense battle isn't exactly as irreparably detrimental to the Steelers' team chemistry as the infamous east coast vs. west coast battle was to the livelihood of hip hop.

I do, however, take umbrage with the fact that the only people that should have Le'Veon Bell's back in his extremely one-sided contract negotiation are the people who are publicly pressuring him to get back on the field. It's one thing for management or fans to not understand where an athlete is coming from when he demands a long term monetary guaranteed when his line of work lends itself to career crippling injuries, but his own teammates? They should know that you risk getting stuck in a rotten situation when you're a running back with a loose expiration date at the age of 30.

Now, Le'Veon Bell might want to see a neurologist and get himself checked out for that CTE stuff if that '17' refers to the amount of millions he's looking for per season. The NFL should take precaution and mail '26' another drug test, because he may have dabbled in a different kind of green if he thinks that even the most "savage" player at a position as replaceable as running back is worthy of that type of money. 

Still, I find it insanely disingenuous that Antonio Brown, who not-so-coincidentally just received 17 million per over a four year extension, is the one filming freestyles aimed at shaming a teammate into a precarious situation that lacks long term security. The Steelers' wide receiver has made it pretty clear he has absolutely no filter when it comes to differentiating what should stay in-house. However, if he were anywhere near as self aware as he is shifty then he'd realize that even the most delusional of NFLers need to stick together when (often fruitlessly) attempting to force the greedy hands of those that exploit them physically and financially.