So basically Bell is crying about someone in Pittsburgh back in 18 doing him dirty…
My recollection is drastically different…
In 2016 Bell was very public about wanting a 15 million dollar a year contract for an extension . He absolutely was adamant that he was going to reset the RB market… (in 2016 15 million represented about 10% of the salary cap number.. a huge amount for a running back.. in 2017 it was slightly under 9%… still absurd…)
In 2017 The Steelers instead franchised him. Paying him over 12 million dollars… this contract even seven seasons later is still a top 15 rb aav deal…
In 2018 he upped his demands, asking for over 17 million dollars per season. Once more moving the needle to over 10% of the cap… the Steelers franchised him again, offering over 14 million dollars for that season he also declined a five year deal that would have given him 14 million per year. That was roughly 8% of the 2018 cap… a totally legitimate monster contract for a rb…
In nfl history, exactly 6 contracts with an AAV of 14 million or more have been signed, two by adrian peterson… only three of those contracts ever topped 15 million per, but by the time they existed the cap was much higher…
This season, for instance, the top paid rb in aav is taking up 7.25% of the cap…
He tries to tie things to guaranteed money, but the Steelers would have designed a 70 million dollar deal back then with a double digit signing bonus as well as a second year salary built to convert into a second signing bonus so he would have been ensured more money than he was letting on
His buffoonery was an ego trip, plain and simple… his fault for being a fool
