No skin in this game (not a Steelers fan, barely own Bell/Conner anywhere)....
I have no problem whatsoever with what he did. I'm glad he did it. He didn't "holdout". He wasn't under contract. He was presented an offer and he believes his worth is higher than the single year offer. He made the decision that, for him, it would be better/smarter to wait until next year and sign a long-term offer rather than risk injury, especially given that Pitt has had no issue giving him a very heavy workload for a few years now. He is under no obligation to accept that offer. It's very different than a player under contract that decides to hold out because they feel they are worth more than their current contract. Keep in mind, in general, I don't mind that either as teams typically have the advantage in most of those situations, especially with the ability to unilaterally cut a player and end contracts if they want. But still, they are still not holding up their end of a deal. In this case, Bell isn't under any contract.
They made a business decision to not want to give him a long term contract but instead offer him a one year franchise tag. He made a business decision to not accept it. Both parties are able to do what they did. Neither is right nor wrong with their decision overall.
Hopefully this will pave the way for some changes:
1) RBs, especially at the elite level, are underpaid. Yes, it's more of a plug and play position than others, but it's a punishing position with a lower shelf life and he deserves more. Sammy Watkins got a 3 year/$48M with $30M guaranteed with the Chiefs. He means much less to them than Bell does to Pitt. Tyrod Taylor is making more than Bell would have made. He's not even starting.
2) The franchise tag is turning into nonsense. And, in particular, it's ruining RBs. When they get signed to lesser rookie contracts that extend 4-5 years, then get tagged 1-2 years because the team isn't willing to commit, now you have a 27-28 yo RB that can't get his pay day anymore as a result. The tag has to either be limited to 1 year, rookie contracts need to be shortened, or an exception has to be made for a low shelf-life position like RB. Hopefully his decision can help bring up a way to change the current system.
3) Losing the ability to negotiate a contract after an early deadline -- This was a big part of why we ended up here, IMO.