why is this scenario so hard to digest? After he made his $14.5M this year, he was going to FA to cash in then, too. He will always be $14.5M lighter, any way he looks at it.
And that's just it. Bell surely
wasn't going to make any cash after signing $14.5M this year. Try to look at it from his side. He signs, Tomlin scorches him with another 400 touches and i don't know how many snaps -- and if you don't believe that, just ask Willie Parker about Tomlin. Then - if he doesn't get hurt - he's in free agency talking to some fat, old white guy who never played or coached but is a GM, talking about how you can only take so many NFL hits and touch the ball so many times before your knees go and that Bell's now a year older and that now he's a half-step slower and then low-balls him with $15M guaranteed. Whereas he sits, and none of that excuse **** comes into the negotiation.
Just listen to the only guy in this video that has real cred because he
worked in a front office - Bucky Brooks (~ 1:35). In the real business world, the front office is not overly concerned about the fans or the product they put on the field and this how how they "
do you":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lQIl26PGqE