http://www.espn.com/blog/pittsburgh...-protecting-future-money-fantasy-fallout-more What does everyone think about the Le'veon Bell holdout? Everyone is surprised the holdout has lasted this long into week three without any resolution and the Steelers are in disarray with all of the Antonio Brown news on top of that. side note--I feel sorry for anyone who selected Le'veon Bell in fantasy! I see both sides of the situation. Everyone this off season across all positional groups have been landing record contracts and RB's are undervalued in that sense. Bell is a top 5 player in term of numbers, but wear and tear eventually catches up to all players, especially RB's. Who is right/wrong in this situation?
This is year two of Bell's holdout. Obviously last year he reported just before the season started, missing all of camp etc. Fast forward a year, then he saw guys like freeman, gurley and recently david johnson getting paid. From bell's point of view, he likely now refuses to be paid less than any of those guys. He did turn down a pitts offer in the summer.
Apparently only the first year (~$15MM) was guaranteed on that offer, which is essentially same as the franchise tag. I woulda reported and "pulled a hammy" similar to what kawhi did.... f'em.
he would of been the highest paid back when that contract was offered that. not exactly that smart as now he's even losing money with each passing week.
Basically its a 1 year guaranteed contract and they have options for 4 more. What upside does he have for taking that contract.He is betting on someone giving him a bigger guarantee in the off season. Running backs have a limited number of reps in them. Taking 400 reps with no guarantee doesn't seem like a great option.
The holdout is probably MAD (mutually assured destruction). It guarantees the Steelers' season is destroyed and Bell misses out on a chunk of money. That said, I believe there is a slim chance it helps Bell's career. Depends how it plays out.
same question @CoolGuy "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. As for the final two years of the deal, it seems that Bell had no guaranteed money. Of course, none of this matters now, since Bell didn't take the offer."
Read above, only the signing bonus was guaranteed. Meaning if he got hurt or didn’t produce to the Steelers satisfaction during the first year they could cut bait. Basically it woulda given him the same guarantees as playing under a one year franchise tag, neither options which were acceptable to him and rightfully so. That franchise tag is the stupidest thing the players agreed to in the collective bargaining agreement, of course it potentially only affects the top players.
Bell misses out on a chunk of money now. He is betting he makes up for it with his next contract. Which he probably will, particularly if you factor injury and wear and tear into it. I don't think it was about helping his career, although less contact should do that. It was about maximizing potential in his next contract. For a good case study, look at what happened to DeMarco Murray. I'm sure Leveon is doing just exactly that...looking at what happened to him.
He had 14.5 million guaranteed this year. He made 12 million last year. Personally, I would have showed up and played week one. That "next" contract doesn't exist if he gets injured, and the injury could occur week 1 or week 13. Had he showed up at least he would have the 14 million. Now he is going to lose 6-7 million and could still be injured when he comes back. I also think the Steelers didn't want to pay him market value because they see the writing on the wall. Big Ben isn't the same and the defense has a Texan like secondary. Why pay a running back long term for what will likely be a rebuilding team in the near future.
The way bell sees it, he has a finite number of carries and yardage left in his career. It's not about age. He needs to maximize the limited number of carries he has left in his career and get paid the most for them that he can.
Assuming the probability of getting hurt in any individual game is x then if he plays 6 games instead of 16 his probability of getting injured drops by (16x/6x) 2.7.
He's also broadcasting that he's concerned about his workload and health to every team out there. That, combined with the fact that he's willing to tank team's season for his personal goals, likely reduces what anyone else is willing to pay him in the next contract. If 6 games of extra workload might be enough to drop his future effectiveness, that should be concerning to any team that's looking to sign him.
James Conner is a better football player than Leveon Bell. He's an idiot for not signing that franchise tender weeks ago because he's not gonna get paid what he thinks he's worth. Conner coming in and looking better than bell will make teams wonder if it's just the scheme. Newsflash: a lot of it is. Will a team want to pay a knucklehead who sits out and has been suspended multiple times for drugs? Probably not.
I think Bell is about the best RB in the league, when active, but I think the emergence of Conner makes him very expendable. This is why you have to be careful with holdouts, you can certainly price yourself out of the market, just being replaced by a quality second -third string player who is actually a good player enough to start on said team or other teams. Kind of like Jimmy Butler, teams going be reluctant in bringing him in a max dollars or trading valuable players/picks.
Fixed. Lol. For some reason, I rely too much on autocorrect on my phone, and the BBS doesn't mesh well with my auto correct.