He was going to get 10 mil at signing. The instant pen hit paper. By the first snap he took he’d be looking at a cool 21-22 mil guaranteed. Come the start of his second season after the deal was signed its up to 33 mil. By the third, 45 total.
Freeman was the highest paid RB at the time of that offer, making 8 mil a year. They offered bell 14-15.
Now I get that he wants guaranteed money, but the only way he wasn’t getting it was if the Steelers cut him before the start of the league year during the offseason. They’d do that for one of a couple reasons, attitude or production(a lack there of) at which point he’d be free to negotiate a deal for new guarantees as he’s doing now.
So he wants the big money at signing. Is that because he himself doesn’t think he’d maintain production? The rolling guarantees structure like that is almost always protected va injury, so he wasn’t risking losing it for an injury.
It’s not that different from Todd Gurleys deal.
Except he got 21 at signing.
He still will only collect the full 45 in guarantees after the third day of the 2020 league year. So the third season after signing his contract. EXACTLY THE SAME AS BELLS.
If I understand all of this correctly
The Steelers could of cut him after the first year.
The only fully guaranteed part of the contract was the 10mil signing bonus. Gurley got 45 fully guaranteed.
Now of course the Steelers may of thought to of kept him longer than just a year and his play could of been worth the cap hit in year 2 and 3. And in that case Bell gets paid. Technically, the franchise tag had more guaranteed money than the offer he got from the Steelers.
When Brown got re-signed by the Steelers in 17, his base salary was only 900k. He got 19mil signing bonus. So he took home 19.9mil that year.
Odds are the base salary for Bell would of been very very low, making his take home closer to 11mil to 16mil for the 2018 season. The contract was never finalized, so who knows how the final breakdown would of been like.
Devonta Freeman got 15mil signing bonus(1.25 mil base salary so 16.125 total paid first year). McCoy got 18mil at signing in 2015.
Why would Bell take 10 at signing in 2018?
Like you said Gurley got 21 mil SB. He took home 21mil(SB) and 900k from his base salary for a total of 21.9mil.
If they cut him cause of production issues, that sets the team up nicely but then the player now has a down year on his record and more than likely won't get that payday he originally wanted. The Steelers used him a lot, in carries and catches, so it stands that more than likely his self life wouldn't be that long. The rolling guarantees don't cover production slips, or if he had an ACL injury that was deemed "cleared" before the new season started.
I think Bell was being maybe a smidge more greedy than the rest, in his quest to be paid more than a traditional RB got.
....I guess if laying on the beach in the Bahamas drinking non stop cocktails during the start of one of the most active time of the season is Jerry's version of being "all in" then I guess we are.
