This is his claim, precisely.
But you gotta be some special kinda stupid (or stoned) to take a dip in that thing without adequate protection.
This amusing article discusses Brown’s odds of winning a lawsuit against the NFL:
https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/08/11/antonio-brown-raiders-wideout-helmet-grievance-legal-dispute
Spoiler: Not good. 
AB is, in my estimation, simply an attention whore. The helmet kerfuffle is just the latest “pay attention to me!” moment that he needs to distract from his sheer idiocy of freezing the skin off his own feet. Dogs gonna bark, fish gonna swim, ABs gonna need headlines.
If he doesn’t back this up with a big season, I predict he’s about done. LeVeon Bell too.
Bell just wanted more money, as is his right. He wasn’t an attention whore, or diva. He believed his skills were worth more than he was offered. Regardless of whether he was right or not, he had every right to not play and seek a better deal. AB on the other hand is the type of diva WR which until now I’d only seen in fiction.
I largely supported Bell’s decision because, as you said, he just wanted more money. He wasn’t under contract and it was his choice. I can’t say I wasn’t annoyed, though, after his “I want to play my entire career in Pittsburgh” and “I’m about to have my best season” comments while turning down an extension better than the contract he ultimately got from the Jets.
But what really pissed me off was his comments in training camp, about how he was ready to touch the ball 450 times to win the Super Bowl, this after justifying his holdout by saying that Pittsburgh was going to use him up, and his apology to fantasy players but not a peep to those of us who supported him even though his actions hurt Pittsburgh by causing a huge distraction. That’s when I realized that he was as big a jackass as Brown is.
The Steelers only offered $10 million guaranteed. The Jets gave him more than triple that. Though he ended up getting less than he wanted, he got more “real” money than he would have if he hadn’t held out.
All the reports I saw gave him $33 million guaranteed in the first two years. The Jets gave him $25 million. He very much miscalculated.
No. The Steelers offered him $10 million guaranteed out of $70 million total over 5 years. They claimed it had “rolling guarantees” in addition but that was BS marketing speak. Any “guarantee” that has contingencies isn’t a guarantee, it’s just a regular contract.
The Jets gave him $52.5 million, which is less than what the Steelers offered, but it includes $35 million in guarantees. So if Bell is hurt, has a falling out with the team, or just gets cut he will get all of that $35 million.
Bell had said publicly when the Steelers offered him $60 million that it wasn’t enough, and when they upped it to $70 million he still wouldn’t take it. When he took less than $60 million to be a Jet it does make him seem like a fool given his public statements, but it all comes down to guaranteed money.
This CBS story contradicts what SB Nation said somewhat:
But this page backs it up:
$27 million in salary guarantees plus $8 million in a signing bonus does total the $35 million that SB Nation reported.
Sports Illustrated also confirms the $35 million:
https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/03/13/leveon-bell-contract-agreement-jets
Bleacher Report says $35 million:
I’m guessing it’s $35 million.
God forbid I defend the Steelers (good owners, horrible fans), but most everything I read was that the Steeler guaranteed $33 million.
That is very simplistic thinking. If I offered you ten dollars right now, or one hundred dollars in one year if you dont die (and knowing you could buy insurance that would pay you $50 if you did), you’d be an idiot taking the guaranteed money. Yes, Bell got more “guarateed” money, but he also cost himself $14.5 million dollars.
Almost everything I’ve read has concluded Bell made a huge financial mistake by skipping a years salary to sign a similar deal that he would have gotten (except more “guaranteed”). YMMV.
Only if by “die”, you mean, “break a leg”, “lose a step”, “get worked into the ground and fall apart”, or “get cut to save a buck”. I can come up with five different scenarios that involve Bell getting hosed by that contract, and none of them ridiculously implausible in the NFL.
The Steelers’ contract offered $20.5m in actual guarantees. If it’s not guaranteed at the signing of the contract, it’s not guaranteed, no matter how you try to word it. Bell gets injured in that first year, and the Steelers decide to cut him? Bell only makes $20.5 million.
Add $20.5m to the franchise tag of $14.5m, and you get the $35m he got guaranteed from New York. And he got a year off out of the deal. An NFL contract is only worth the actual guaranteed money - everything else is fluff.
And I think that statement is both factually inaccurate, and a poor way to judge financial situations.
This article is a cautionary tale about counting on money that’s not guaranteed.
Yes, it’s not literally true that only guarantees matter. It’s not like you will never be paid more than that. You very well may be. But it’s also true that most of the time, what matters more is what’s guaranteed.
It’s going to be situational. A youngish franchise quarterback with a winning record will most likely see most if not all of the money in his contract. That’s not a volatile position or a risky situation. NFL rules go out of their way to protect QBs and a good QB is essential to any team being successful, and are very difficult to find.
Le’Veon Bell is a running back in his late 20s. Most RBs are good up until they hit 29/30, when they typically hit a wall, or at least teams are nervous about retaining them. It’s a very physical position that wears down a person’s body. Injuries are common even among the most durable players. He might have a couple of years where he’s a premiere player but after that it’s iffy. He’s in a position where he better not expect to see most of the non-guaranteed cash in a five year contract. Odds are that he won’t get all of it.
And you also have to factor in that the contract dispute with the Steelers doesn’t make that situation a stable one. If they sign him and he doesn’t meet their expectations they’re less likely to cut him some slack and more likely to just cut him. He’d be a problem child that’s just no longer worth it. I think he made a smarter long-term financial decision. I don’t like the way he did it, personally, but I think he came out better in the end.
We dont know the exact amounts, but from what has been reported, the Steelers offered him a 5 year, $70 million dollar deal, with $33 million payable in the first two years, and $20.5 million guaranteed. He signed a contract with the Jets with a year less, a lower yearly salary, and less money in the first two years, and passed on $14.5 million to hold out. All to get an additional $4.5 million guaranteed. The only way that would work put in his favor is if he got injured in his first year, and the Steelers cut him right away. To me, that doesnt sound like coming out better.
It’s still only $10 million the first year. That’s all they offered as an up-front guarantee.
He would only make more than $10 million if he didn’t get hurt or cut that first year and that’s far from a given for a RB getting close to 30.
Your $20.5 million figure is just wrong. The $33 million in “guarantees” is weasel speak. (Not weasel words from you, from the Steelers/their PR group.)
And Antonio Brown (remember him? check the thread title) missed practice again today. The GM told him through the media “it’s time for him to be all in or all out”
Double down, Anty Brown.
We can play the dueling cites game if you wish:
“According to CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora, the Steelers deal would have paid Bell $20.5 million guaranteed up front in Year 1. According to Pro Football Talk, that money would have been paid through a $10 million signing bonus, a $10 million roster bonus plus his base salary.” CBS Sports
“Pittsburgh reportedly were offering Bell a $10 million signing bonus and ALSO a $10 million roster bonus in 2018, according to Florio. When added to the minimum base salary they could have paid him as per league rules, Bell would have been guaranteed $20.79 million in year one alone.” Mike Florio
I love the continued attempts to age LeVeon up. He’s 27 years old and while that is, I suppose, “close to thirty”, it’s also closer to 25. And he would have been 25 if he signed with the Steelers originally, which would have given him another year of prime earning rather than him sitting out to the tune of $14.5 million.
No it’s not. Using all other RB contracts as a baseline, the reality is $20.5 guaranteed in the first year is much, much, much closer to reality than $10 million. And as my cites above show, the guaranteed money was for both the $10 million signing bonus you cite to, AND the $10.5 million guaranteed roster bonus.
And here, in reality, teams don’t cut guys they trust enough to give a 5 year, $70 million dollar contract to after the first year of the contract. There is very little doubt in my mind that, unless the injury was career ending, the Steelers wouldn’t cut him for being injured in the first year of a 5 year contract. I can think of no examples of a team making a guy one of the highest paid players at his position, and then cutting him after a year. And, even then, they just might keep him on the roster to help pay his medical bills ala Shazier.
You’re absolutely right, if Bell suffers a career ending injury in the first year of his contract, he made the right decision to sign with the Jets rather than the Steelers. Other than that, he sacrificed money to get guaranteed money. It is, of course, his decision, and I support his ability to get as much money as he can. But I think you really have to ignore history and common sense to conclude a guy who will make less during the time it is highly unlikely he’ll be cut, will make less in yearly salary, and skipped out on $14.5 million is better off.