Fans bad mouth athletes who hold out and skip team time for more money. Not those who enter negotiations for more money. That’s common. If that were the case there wouldn’t be an nfl player left to like. It is the fact he is skipping critical time. Only thing you can skip without the public getting upset is training camp. Anything after that starts pissing people off.
You’re crazy. The Steelers offer was piss poor and his agents knew it. The base salary wasn’t unreasonable, but the deal included virtually no signing bonus, limited/no incentive based escalators and around 40-45% guaranteed money. At the time of the offer, lesser backs like Freeman and McCoy were already getting 2-3 times in singing bonus, 50-60% guaranteed money and significant incentives.
His agents knew damn well monster deals for Gurley/DJ we’re right around the corner and discussions on other big guns like Elliott/Gordon are likely beginning in the offseason. The 2-3 times in signing bonus has become 3-4+ times, the 50-60% guaranteed has already become 80%+ and incentive based escalators have skyrocketed in just four months since the Steelers last offer.
And they do so out of irrationality. Dudes public enemy #1 now, for what? Because he didn’t wanna play a 2nd year on the franchise tag?
You have people saying he shouldve told the Steelers he wasn’t going to sign the franchise tag and they would’ve just not used it on him. Trust me, if it were tha easy to get out of it, he would’ve done that.
Exactly! To sign the franchise tag again would be beyond dumb for him financially. The steelers are simply trying to pay him year to year while he is productive then want to cut bait as soon as the rb cliff hits....if anyone has earned a long term deal by his play on the field that's not a QB it's Bell.
The one thing I will say about football contracts is this. Football is the one sport where owners don't have to honor their contracts. Teams can simply choose to cut players and not pay them, and teams do just that. They also use leverage to have players sign new contracts for less money. So football is the one sport I don't automatically disrespect players for wanting more money and NOT honoring their contracts. Commitment should be a two way street, it's not, and players have to make as much as they can when the sun is shining on them.
Having said that, Bell handled himself like an asshole throughout this process and I don't respect him for that.
Having said that, Bell handled himself like an asshole throughout this process and I don't respect him for that.
i think houston could make a run at him. kinda like that fit for him. they have lamar miller for another year but he isnt where bell is. although he may go to the highest bidder there may be a happy medium playing in texas (taxes) and his ability to win. i think any athlete would have to think long and hard before playing voluntarily for the jets or raiders.
Exactly.
The owners are well within their right, as collectively bargained, to tag the guy. You might not like that as a "pro-free market" person, but it is what it is.
The only teams that would be dumb enough to pay him more would be free-falling franchises like the Jets and Raiders. If you want to go there and make slightly more money to go 4-12 every year, then good riddance.
Just because they’re well within their right doesn’t change anything I said ITT
Hes well within his right to hold out, so why are people like you attacking his character for it? “Assholes like Bell”
What in this situation makes him an asshole?
Sounds like you just don’t like the guy, why not just say that?
Again, fans just don’t like guys wanting more money.
dez bryant's situation probably solidified his decision to himself. i didnt like it to start the season but at this point i think not coming back at all is best for him and the steelers. i also think the reporting on this was terrible. pretty sure he never said he would report by any time, people just assumed via twitter and bad reporting. he always said he wanted to protect his long term value, which is still true based on his actions. he pretty much indicated he was willing to sit out the whole year so not sure why people are surprised that he is actually doing it.
I haven’t followed everything this guy has done over the last 10 weeks but I’m unaware of him acting like an asshole. Not sure where that comes from.
You tag a guy for the 2nd time and you deserve why you get. Pats notoriously difficult to deal with for players and even they’ve never tagged a guy twice. It’s inviting distraction.
I generally don't like NFL players (particularly RBs and WRs) acting like they're NBA players. They aren't worth what they are asking for. That's why good NFL franchises don't bite at people like Bell. Instead they win Super Bowls, and guys like Bell go rack up garbage yards on a bad football team for a few more dollars.
I respect players who sacrifice some of their potential earnings to be a good teammate and achieve the ultimate goal. And in this case, I don't think Bell would be sacrificing THAT much financially.
