Once again, seeking a trade is essentially impossible.
Once a player is designated as tagged with the exclusive franchise level, other teams are not allowed to negotiate or even talk with the player or his representatives.
Further, unless someone can tell me different, a player can not be traded until they sign the franchise tender. Bell has not signed and most likely will not sign until after training camp.
The funniest part about all these reports is it just shows how not smart NFL players are and how their agents totally uninterested in correcting them. If Bell is focused on the average annual value and not the length or the guarantees in the contract, well the Steelers could likely con him good if they wanted.
Make it a 5 year deal. Throw a big roster bonus at him, some signing bonus, and then put a bunch of funny money in the thing in years 4 and 5. Boom! Average annual value gets pumped up to some ludicrous target # and Bell never actual sees most of it.
AB's is kinda janky because of the restructure. But that is basically what they did with his contract --
http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/pittsburg...io-brown-6702/
Focusing on APY is such a short sighted dumb move. Guaranteed cash is the ONLY thing that matters in NFL contracts. When will these idiots learn that?
Agents are no help because their percentage rake comes off the top of the computed and projected total value of the deal. So they have no problem with talking their clients into funny money deals.