Either a delusional belief that a deal could be struck before the tag deadline or optics of holding off tagging until the deadline as an indication to the locker room (which no doubt wants Bell to get paid) that tagging was a last resort to keep him from walking only after negotiations up to the deadline failed
They have a week to make thoseAlso, where are the associated moves that clear the cap space needed for either a long-term deal or the tag?
IMO Ben is waiting for Cousins, Brees and Rodgers to set the top shelf QB market before he restructuresFinally, depending on how much they want to cut from the roster (Mitchell, Wilcox, DHB, William Gay) and/or restructure (Ben R? Pouncey?) the team can clear tens of million of dollars in cap space.
My take - a flurry of moves gets announced in the next 12 hours or so.
Bell gets tagged.
Mitchell, DHB, and William Gay get the axe. Hopefully Golden as well.
Wilcox re-works his deal and sticks around. Steelers "bare bones" plan is that Wilcox plays SS and Davis plays FS.
With regard to Wilcox, this from Ray Fittipaldo of the P-G in his chat today
What do they see in Wilcox that they would try to retain him?
Ray Fittipaldo: No idea. They couldn't even dress him at the end of the year because he was making too many mistakes on special teams.
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/s...s/201803050077