Will Tomlin Cave?

[Whatever]

(10-02-2018, 08:32 PM)StrictlyBiz Wrote: I've been saying that the ONLY way that Bell benefits financially from sitting out is if he avoids a catastrophic injury that either is a career ender, or jeopardizes his future ability . And there's no way of knowing that.  Otherwise he's just pissing money away and he will never make that money up regardless of the guarantees in his next contract. 

As bad as his injury is, Thomas will be ready to go and fully healed for next year. His broken leg will have zero impact on his next contract. And bonus, Thomas will get paid his entire salary this year. Like an idiot Bell is going to forfeit $8M, most likely for no reason.

While he may be reducing his chance of injury by reducing the number of touches that he gets, he's not fully eliminating it. He still has to play and with that comes the chance of injury. He could very well tear an ACL in week 17. Sitting out only guarantees that he will not tear an ACL before week 10 and at a cost of $8M. If you are going to suffer a major injury in a contract year, wouldn't it be more preferable to do it early in the season, like week 4 giving you the longest possible time to recover? And likewise, if you are going to suffer a career ending injury in a contract year, wouldn't you want to maximize your income that year? 

Bell is an idiot with limited understanding of finances and he's going to lose as much as $8M over it. 

Thomas and Bell are in different situations.  Thomas is under contract.  As a matter of fact, he is under a contract that he negotiated in good faith and was happy with a few years back.  Safeties also generally enjoy longer careers and injuries don't depreciate their value as much as a RB.  Thomas is headed into his third major payday after being a 1st round pick and having already signed one extension.  He's made over $48 million in his career, over 3x what Bell has.  He is still going to get a huge payday on his third contract.  Bell will likely be on one year "prove it" deals after his next contract is done.