$35 mil guaranteed and he gets to extend his career by sitting out a year. If he had been injured or worn out by PIT last year he wouldn’t have gotten this money
pure "if". he was in the elite category next to gurley, lost the entire $14m he was going to get, then his value plummeted. searching for $17 per and his huge payday, he had to settle with this. and going to the jets. yikes lol
Yes, but he avoided a total catastrophe of not getting anything with an injury. Bell sacrificed short term gain for long term security. This is what mature adults do. Delayed gratification. In years past this would never happen, but modern athletes are smarter and wise to the meat-grinder that is the NFL. Bravo, Mr. Bell. You won.
it really comes down to how you look at it. you obviously have your side. I don't necessarily agree as it is based purely on if something happened. he passed up on $14 mil, passed up on a pitts team, whom with a full team could probably challenge as a contender. He'll no longer get another shot so long as he's with the jets, didn't get that huge payday he was looking for, criticized by pitts teammates who felt betrayed and yes that locker room talk does transfer you're an athlete. you get paid to actually play. this rest sit out era can absolutely reach ridiculous levels at times. yes football is a physical sport but he himself is the one who chose it. That isn't on anyone else. He then agrees to take on all the attributes that come with it.
Playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers does not really grant you any kind of superpowers or special perks. In fact, New York presents far more money-making opportunities and media ventures to promote ones profile. I guess if you're really hung up on getting a ring, then sure, Pittsburgh probably presents a slightly better chance in the next 2-3 years, but the truth is most NFL players don't really care about min-maxing their Superbowl odds because their careers are so short. The only players who do that are typically QBs who have very long shelf lives and typically have made mega millions by the time they are ring chasing in their late 30s. "Didn't get that huge payday"? He is now the 2nd highest paid RB in football, both in average compensation and in guaranteed money. What would it take for you to consider it a "huge payday"? Lockerroom talk transfers? He is supposed to care about or make decisions based on butthurt ex-teammates? Take on all the attributes? What does that even mean? He is supposed to be an idiot and act against his own self-interest because he chose football? Sorry man, Bell made the safe, smart choice and he came out the other end just fine. Normally this type of mature, rational thinking and behavior would be applauded, but since this football we just beat our chest and rage about entitlement or something.
pretty self explanatory what huge payday he was looking for. but since you asked NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reports impending free agent Le'Veon Bell is seeking $17 million annually. It's $3 million higher than Todd Gurley's average salary. Bell also wants $45 million guaranteed. It's a lot of money for a 27-year-old coming off a holdout at a devalued position, but Bell is going to get overpaid this offseason. With the Steelers expected to transition tag Bell, teams may be forced to frontload Bell's contract. looks like we'll agree to disagree. as mentioned previously you have your side on how you're looking at the situation. that's fine. I don't necessarily believe it was best for him
Should he not have been looking to be paid more than Gurley? I mean, that's posturing/negotiation 101. What would have been weird is his agent publicly saying he wanted to be paid less than that.
I mean considering Gurley is widely regarded as the top rb in the league, I don't know. and to me sitting out wasn't going to help his case in that regard
Of course it didn't help his case. It was never meant to. It was risk mitigation. He sacrificed 14MM *now* so he would be guaranteed *more* later. And he *got* more. A lot of his detractors were saying he was basically committing career suicide by doing this... he'd be lucky to get top 10 RB money, etc etc. Turns out that was chicken little talk. In the end he got exactly the money he deserved (2nd highest paid) as most would agree he is the 2nd most valuable RB in the NFL today. The fact he didn't slip in earning power, hardly at all, really changes the game going forward. He proved you can play the long game and win. We may well see many more players sitting out their final years on contract given this outcome.
The real losers here are the Steelers... who clearly should have traded Bell. Hard to believe the massive Ls they just took on their two marquee players.
Except for this deal that the Steelers offered him last summer... According to NFL.com, the Steelers made one final offer to Bell on Monday, just hours before the NFL's 4 p.m. ET deadline for teams to negotiate a new contract with their franchise player. The offer from the Steelers was worth a total of $70 million over five years (or $14 million per season). Although the offer would have given Bell the largest multi-year contract of any running back in the NFL, he turned it down, and one reason he likely did that, is because it was nowhere near his asking price, which was reportedly in the neighborhood of $17 million per season. One other reason Bell might have turned the deal down is because it apparently wasn't loaded with any substantial guarantees. According to NFL.com's Ian Rapoport, the contract included $33 million in guaranteed money, which was going to be paid out over the first two years. Rapoport also noted that the first three years of the deal would pay out $45 million (or $15 million per season), but didn't note if all of that money was guaranteed He came out worse all around and wasted 1 year of his prime.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/vincen...rb-market-in-deal-with-the-jets/#1b2465607d1e Only 15 mil of steelers deal was guaranteed. 35 > 15.
some guy named Vincent Frank in March 2018 or someone with a following of millions named Ian Rapoport in July 2018 who to believe?
Why do you choose to believe this one random guy as fact instead of all the other reporting to the contrary?