would you trade bell?

[Broncofan]

Guys - you can't trade Bell while he's still holding out.

A player who hasn't signed the franchise tag can't be traded - teams can't trade a player who isn't under contrract.   So you can only wait until he signs, and then trade him - but the trade deadline is Oct. 30.  The deadline to sign the tag is Nov. 13.  If Bell is holding out more than to Saturday, likely he's going to report well after the trade deadline.   Now, if he signs the tag, sure - but again, until then, PIT is stuck.  The only decision they can make is to rescind the tag, and let him walk - obviously, that's NOT going to happen.

On the flip side, Bell knows he loses his service time year if he doesn't sign by Nov. 13 - PIT can do the exact same thing this year, at the same price.  @warfelg has it down absolutely correct.  And yes, Bell can be retagged for a 44 percent increase in 2019 from 14.4M (so 20.7M) - and then Bell can do exactly the same as this year, only he gets to pocket 10M+ for missing 8 games. And he ties up PIT's cap space for 20M+ until they get the refund later.  So, yeah, a 3rd tag isn't happening.

Figured the discussion would help advance with those tidbits (all of the above courtesy of the Cousins experience, given DEN was a FA player, and multiple trade scenarios were thrown our way before FA opened, and confirmed on the NFL CBA).

 

[warfelg]

2 minutes ago, Broncofan said:

Guys - you can't trade Bell while he's still holding out.

A player who hasn't signed the franchise tag can't be traded - teams can't trade a player who isn't under contrract.   So you can only wait until he signs, and then trade him - but the trade deadline is Oct. 30.  The deadline to sign the tag is Nov. 13.  If Bell is holding out more than to Saturday, likely he's going to report well after the trade deadline.   Now, if he signs the tag, sure - but again, until then, PIT is stuck.  The only decision they can make is to rescind the tag, and let him walk - obviously, that's NOT going to happen.

On the flip side, Bell knows he loses his service time year if he doesn't sign by Nov. 13 - PIT can do the exact same thing this year, at the same price.  @warfelg has it down absolutely correct.  And yes, Bell can be retagged for a 44 percent increase in 2019 from 14.4M (so 20.7M) - and then Bell can do exactly the same as this year, only he gets to pocket 10M+ for missing 8 games. And he ties up PIT's cap space for 20M+ until they get the refund later.  So, yeah, a 3rd tag isn't happening.

Figured the discussion would help advance with those tidbits (all of the above courtesy of the Cousins experience, given DEN was a player, and confirmed on the NFL CBA).

 

Technically was can trade him, but that would take some team taking the risk of being able to resign him, wanting to give up something, Bell willing to go there, and Bell signing it. In theory it’s possible. 

Ultimately they won’t rescind the tag, because it’s within their rights. He won’t show up because he knows they’ll use him (and why not his talent is that great). The Steelers felt that they made an effort to sign him and he basically spit in their face (by evident of how close they were twice and people around him told him to take it). And Bell thinks they weren’t even close (evident in his “music” when he kept referencing wanting more than $17-20mil a year). Both sides see what they did as the right thing so neither side is going to back off. 

[Broncofan]

7 minutes ago, warfelg said:

Technically was can trade him, but that would take some team taking the risk of being able to resign him, wanting to give up something, Bell willing to go there, and Bell signing it. In theory it’s possible. 

Ultimately they won’t rescind the tag, because it’s within their rights. He won’t show up because he knows they’ll use him (and why not his talent is that great). The Steelers felt that they made an effort to sign him and he basically spit in their face (by evident of how close they were twice and people around him told him to take it). And Bell thinks they weren’t even close (evident in his “music” when he kept referencing wanting more than $17-20mil a year). Both sides see what they did as the right thing so neither side is going to back off. 

In order to do that, though, Bell has to agree to sign the tag.   As long as he's not willing to do that, then he can't. 

I get the theoretical argument, but when you add in that Bell chooses his team, and the fact that only 8 teams can afford 14.4M to add to the cap...it's not happening now, not until Bell reports and signs.  

FWIW I agree with you on PIT being close last year - the issue is this year it wasn't even close at all.  After last year's usage, and not being close, well, it's easy to see why both sides have become so entrenched now, and why Bell's actions are so different than last year (at least so far).   Hard to believe he's showing up until early Nov if he's not showing up Sat (and yeah, that Rapsheet report was talking about what happens IF he reports on Sat, not that he will report on Sat AFAIK - so many fake Rapsheet accounts, I think Twitter took off with the misinterpretation there).

[warfelg]

Just now, Broncofan said:

In order to do that, though, Bell has to agree to sign the tag.   As long as he's not willing to do that, then he can't. 

I get the theoretical argument, but when you add in that Bell chooses his team, and the fact that only 8 teams can afford 14.4M to add to the cap...it's not happening now, not until Bell reports and signs.  

Oh don’t disagree at all. Just saying, no matter how slim, it’s still an option. 

[SteelersFan2333]

At this stage I almost hope he doesn’t sign and report until November. I think we can get 80% of Bell with Connor, and our passing game can make up the difference. Put the 9 million back into our cap, and with the restructuring we’ll have a bucket of money to try and solve some of the issues on D, while we still pick up an extra 3rd comp pick when we lose Bell. Also can’t imagine what the locker room is going to be like when he returns, if that’s pushed off until week 10 or so hopefully we’re showing we are a super bowl team without him, and the controversy disappears due to our strong record.  

[3rivers]

3 hours ago, FourThreeMafia said:

At this point, Id probably trade him for a 3rd round pick.

Just get him off the team.   

I do feel bad for RBs in todays league, as they are often expected to be work horses, but teams shy away from paying them because of a) their short shelf life and b) how easily replaceable they are relative to other positions, but my issue isnt with Bell wanting big money....its the fact that he has put himself above the team time and time again, and then acts like a baby when that fact is taken into consideration in contract talks.

I will be shocked if a team pays him the money he wants.   Too many damn red flags with this guy.

if the CBA allowed RB's to go UFA after year 3, we would have locked bell up and this wouldn't be going on.  He was the best RB at one time but as you say, the red flags just devalue him in the end and I agree that if he thinks he will get $20M per season then I expect him to be disappointed in the offseason.  It will be interesting to see if he eventually holds out once he gets that deal, that has been known to happen.