Last year, the final week of contract talks were uninspiring. Bell was looking for much more money than the Steelers were offering, and the two sides somewhat accepted that a deal wasn’t going to get done in the final moments.
A year on the franchise tag is fine. Players find themselves being tagged all the time, waiting for the following season to secure a long-term contract with their team. But the situation with Bell and the Steelers was different.
Pittsburgh had the money to get something done, but they weren’t willing to offer what they needed to.