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Originally Posted by Chaka
To begin with, I want you to understand that I’m not trying to be combative on this issue, and no disrespect is intended in my posts. Tone is a hard thing to capture in a cold internet post, so I feel I should say that up front. Second, I will not go too far into detail in responding to your post, since I don’t want the posting to get out of hand and irritate everyone with another long post. With these things out of the way, I’ll respond as follows:
The collective bargaining agreement is not outdated nor is it 20+ years old. It is renegotiated periodically as it expires. The last renegotiation occurred in 2011, and it is due to expire in 2020. Both sides are well represented in the negotiations, and the resulting agreement is presumed to be a fair balance between both sides’ interests. For the teams to receive the benefit of things such as a salary cap and franchise tag options, they must concede to the players on other points such as increased pension benefits and minimum spending floors.
In the above context, Bell’s “value” in an unrestricted free agent market is irrelevant – he's negotiated away the right to be an unrestricted free agency if he’s franchise tagged. And of course the Steelers will use the tag as often as they can if it’s a good deal for them. They are simply taking advantage of the rights they negotiated into the agreement. It provides the teams with a way to keep their best players if they choose to do so, and in theory it also provides the teams with a way to limit overall salary growth since the best players rarely reach unrestricted free agency. In return, the teams have conceded other things, and the players have installed protections for Bell by ensuring that the tag price is a reasonable approximation of a top salary at his position (but he won’t be setting any record salaries unless he maneuvers himself into a Kirk Cousins-type situation).
I don’t really get your complaints regarding my use of the QB position as an illustration of my points. Kirk Cousins comes to mind because it just happened this last offseason. But you could use any position – as I mentioned, Bell could have set himself up for a tag price of $21 million, which is just as crazy for a RB like Bell as $34 million would have been for a QB of Cousins' caliber. The same rationale applies regardless of position/tag price.
About the only thing I agreed with is that the current system is not as beneficial for positions with shorter lifespans such as RB. That’s true, but in my mind that’s up to the players union to address in their negotiations. You can’t blame the teams for taking advantage of the terms they’ve negotiated - in fact its unfair for you to suggest that they should.
Lastly, please explain why Bell is in a different class than Conner? I’ll admit that I know very little about their respective running styles or skills, but what I do know is that Conner has outpaced Bell’s most recent production in almost every respect – which gives rise to the question of whether this is because the Steelers’ system is RB friendly, in which case signing Bell could be a huge mistake.
Well, I need to apologize now because my post ended up long again. But I'm trying!
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You don't need to apologize for the tone of your post. You aren't going to offend me and I don't think you are angry, I'm not. Message boards are for things like this, no one is forced to read it. They can easily scroll past it.
I did not say the collective bargaining agreement, I said the franchise tag. The concept of the tag is over 20 years old, it was created around '93 for a situation that has largely changed due to the rookie draft scale and positions settling under certain values. The strictures it uses are dated because the cap has outpaced them. No negotiation is fair and balanced, some sides have more leverage than others. That is life, and if you don't agree with that I don't know what to tell you.
The RB position was devalued for around a decade, it has evolved somewhat since then and hence become more valuable. You can see that reflected in the draft. But not all RB's are the same, the position name covers a wide range of players and their level of contribution and the scheme that uses them. QB's are largely the same, WO's are largely the same, Oline is largely the same, TE's and RB's are all over the place in terms of use and contribution. Some are much more valuable than others and I do not believe that is reflected in the franchise tag salary estimates.
You keep explaining how the system works as if by explaining it in further detail it will suddenly change my opinion. I understand how the franchise system works and whence it came. How it was negotiated. I understand the Steelers are going by the rules negotiated, I understand Bell is asserting the only leverage he has. I find it unfair and ineffective in this instance, regardless whether the player's union agreed to it in negotiations or not. They did not anticipate a situation like this, and I am sure they will look at it when they go back to the table in 2020. As I said, I think the Steelers are violating the spirit of what the tag was created for. The tag is designed to force both parties to the negotiating table and come to a conclusion. It is not working in this case. However, instead of both sides moving on, the Steelers would rather force Bell into playing for them or not playing at all. That hurts both sides but really hurts the individual player more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chaka
In the above context, Bell’s “value” in an unrestricted free agent market is irrelevant
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It is utterly relevant because that is the very heart of the matter and what is motivating his holdout. Bell has a perceived value of his contribution, the Steelers do not agree or are simply not willing to meet it. Things have ground to a halt. If Bell did not have a value attached to his services, we would not be having this conversation.
I just explained, in length, why your Cousins analogy does not work. Just because two players are tagged doesn't make their situation the same. I will ask a simple question "Are QB's and RB's paid the same amount of money and does that money impact the cap in the same way?" If they do in your mind then it is a valid comparison. I do not think it is and explained why. Yet they are held to the same strictures.
Connor has been hot and cold this year, that's it. He did little to nothing last year. Bell has done more for much longer. If Connor does the same then you can put him in that category. Skill and style wise... He is a bigger back and runs a little high. That type of running style takes a lot of hits IMO. Lot of hits doesn't usually equate to a long career.