While it’s become nearly impossible to keep anything inside the once-insular walls of an NFL locker room in 2018, the subject of a player’s personal finances have remained sacrosanct.
The NFL thrives on a business model that capitalizes on players’ short-term careers and their contracts that reflect the instability. All players are theoretically enemies on the field, but they are unified in the larger push for more financial security in the face of soaring injury rates and a callous structure that encourages the utilization of a younger, cheaper group of cost-controlled labor.
That camaraderie took a massive hit on Wednesday in Pittsburgh after running back Le’Veon Bell decided to continue his impasse and remain away from the team, which he has done all preseason.