Steelers4Life
Footballguy
Players have always had the right to sit out and not sign the tender. They can take whatever chances and risk whatever they want. For a lot of reasons, they haven't been stupid enough to take it to the level Bell has, and Bell's actions did more harm than good for the perceived value of running backs. He was one of the premier RBs in the NFL and replaced more than adequately by a guy who'd had no success in the NFL before, which adds credence to the idea that RBs are extremely replaceable. He hasn't changed anything at all, the rules and the system are the same as they've always been. Teams will still tag players the same way they always have and it'll be up to the players to either sign or leave the money on the table.Wait, so until 3 days ago, we were convinced that Bell HAD to sign by 11/13 or he'd be able to be tagged again in 2019 at the $14.5M tag rate, but you claim that "guys have always had this option, they were just stupid enough to exercise it?" I'm pretty sure that at various points, I've read posts you made referencing that Bell had to sign or he could be franchised again at $14.5M. If I'm mistaken, I will apologize in advance, but if I'm not, you can't claim that "guys have always had this option," as we didn't know this WAS an option until a few days ago.
He doesn't have to do anything next year to change the system, rather than the market. By getting the NFL to admit that a player can sit out a year while tagged, and still advance to the next tag rate, he's changed the system for RBs. Prior to this, if a RB gets franchise tagged twice, much of the prime of his career will be gone before he truly becomes a FA. @Anarchy99 posted about this previously. Now, teams will be much less inclined to franchise tag RBs (especially for a 2nd year) because they know they might be sacrificing a significant amount of their cap for a player who can just sit out a year, rest their body, and force a larger paycheck the following year (either through advancing to the next tag level, or becoming a FA). Bell HAS changed the system for RBs, already.
You have said many times that the Steelers don't argue stuff in the media, but that's just plain false. The inaccurate leaks about what they offered, the inaccurate leak about Bell agreeing to a deal then backing out, the constant comments last night about how Steeler FO expects Bell to report this week-they argue stuff through the media ALL THE TIME, you just choose to ignore it. We have no named source saying Bell backed out of a deal; we have a named source saying that's not true. You choose to believe the un-named source because it fits what you want to believe. We have a named source saying Bell is doing what he's doing to bring value back to the RB position, and his actions are bearing that out, but you choose to dis-believe it, because it doesn't fit what you want to believe. You're entitled to believe what you want, but stop trying to pretend that your beliefs are incontrovertible facts, especially when facts that ARE actually incontrovertible prove your beliefs wrong.
On one thing, we agree, it does speak VOLUMES that the Steelers players had so much to say about this: It speaks VOLUMES about them being crappy teammates.
The Steelers do not discuss CONTRACT issues in the media. And no one ever said Bell backed out of a deal. It was reported that Bell's agent thought Bell was going to sign a contract and there was an agreement with the Steelers, but Bell decided at the last minute to not sign the contract back in 2017. There was also a laughable report that he was offered $10M in guarantees for 2018 when the tag was higher, which was ridiculous to believe both then and now unless you believe the Steelers' organization is utterly incompetent. Maybe you believe that though. You want to believe that, have at it. I'm not choosing what to believe and what not to believe, I'm looking at what's realistic and what's not.
The teammates aren't bad teammates because they spoke out. IThere was a reason for it, because it's rarely done. It speaks to the respect Bell doesn't have in that locker room for the way he's gone about his "business" by people who understand far more about the situation than any of us.
You must really hate the Steelers in order to believe some of the stuff you say you do lol.