There is almost certainly a players strike coming. The Le’ Veon Bell holdout here in Pittsburgh is telegraphing this. They are going to walk out over the franchise tag.
Unfortunately more will probably stop watching for that reason than the fact that they let their players use our flag as toilet paper.
No. Bell is an idiot. The franchise tag makes a lot of whining, but in the end it’s actually good for the player (top 3 salary for your position). Bell’s problem is he refuses to understand that given where he is in the league drug protocol AND his injury history nobody is giving him a long term high money high guarantee contract. Next he’s going to be lucky to get one year at 10 million with an optional second. Most players don’t care about the franchise tag, much like how most players don’t care about the player behavior policy. Less than a dozen players a year get tagged, there’s over 1500 players in the league, it’s a non-issue for most.