2019 NFL Free Agents: Rumors and Predictions for Le'Veon Bell, Latavius Murray

The NFL remains a quarterback-driven league, but we well may look back on 2018 as the year the running back returned to prominence.

Rushing attacks powered teams like the Baltimore Ravens, Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks into the postseason. Rookie running backs like Nick Chubb, Saquon Barkley, Phillip Lindsay and Sony Michel took the league by storm. Heading into 2019, teams either have themselves a franchise back—or at least a quality committee—or they do not.

This is why starting-caliber running backs like Le'Veon Bell and Latavius Murray are going to command attention when free agency opens on March 13. Both players, it seems, will be looking for now homes at that time.

Murray, who spent the last two seasons as a backup with the Minnesota Vikings, has made it known that he'd prefer to be a full-time starter.

"I want to play," Murray said, per Andrew Krammer of the Star Tribune. "I want to start. I'm not content being in a backup role."

A backup role is exactly what Murray is looking at if he returns to Minnesota in 2019. Though he has struggled to stay healthy, the Vikings are likely to give Dalvin Cook every opportunity to be their workhorse back.

Meanwhile, Murray, who has started 48 games over the last five seasons with Minnesota and the Oakland Raiders, should draw interest from running-back needy teams like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and possibly even the Raiders.

He has, however, left open the possibility of a return.

"I love everything about this organization," Murray said, per Chris Tomasson of the Twin Cities Pioneer Press. "I love this locker room. I love this team, and I would love to be back here. I know how things can go, and so we'll see what happens."

Our guess is that Murray's time with the Vikings is over.

Though Bell refused to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2018, head coach Mike Tomlin isn't convinced the running back's time with his current team is done. At his season-ending press conference, Tomlin was asked if Pittsburgh was done trying to have a relationship with Bell.

"We're in the process of assessing and reviewing what happened in '18 and appropriately so," Tomlin said, per Bryan DeArdo of 247Sports. "So we're gonna pause before we go forward with the development and preparation for 2019."

Our prediction is that Bell and the Steelers are done, not only because of the strained relationship, but also because Bell will suitors on the open market. Teams are going to want him, and players are going to want to play with him.

Cleveland Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry, for example, recently reached out to both Bell and Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown—who is in the midst of his own drama right now—on social media.

One of the reasons Bell didn't play in 2018 is because the Steelers only wanted to commit to him for one more year under the franchise tag. While the Browns are unlikely to want Bell because of the emergence of Nick Chubb, some team is going to offer him the long-term deal Pittsburgh wouldn't.

The Steelers, meanwhile, seem to have found themselves a new starter in James Conner. All of this adds up to Bell wearing a new uniform in 2019.