Hear Me Out...The great holdout debate of 2018

A quarter of the 2018-19 NFL season is in the books and the league has to be celebrating. Ratings are up. (Even though when they were down and the NFL was "doomed," they still dominated the top 10 ratings. But hey there are narratives to spin.) The on the field product is amazing with a new group of young players ushering the league into a new era and not to be diminished, the off the field stories haven't been distracting.

The biggest story involving a player and the law was Mychal Kendricks, who got busted for insider trading. And the biggest off the field story this season isn't kneeling during the national anthem, domestic abuse or denying the science around concussions and football, we've all moved on from those. The biggest story is star players holding out.

Soon to be former Seahawks safety Earl Thomas and Steelers RB Le'Veon Bell have been at the forefront of this discussion. Thomas did report to the Seahawks at the start of the regular season but was injured during last week's game against the Cardinals. Bell has not reported to the Steelers but plans to do so during Week 7 or 8.

Two parties have formed in this debate. One side believes Bell and Thomas are right to leverage their way to bigger paydays and the other camp sides with the franchises, believing players need to honor their contractual agreements.

I have a different way of looking at this debate and if I'm being honest, it's crazy. Especially with today's "You're either for me or against me" way of thinking. Rather than look at this as a math problem and I'm going to offer the very rare take of nuance.

I know, I know bringing nuance to a topic is doing the way of the dodo in the era of social media but I'm going to give it a try. So hang with me.

A quick tangent, most of these "debates" happening on social media are on Twitter, the absolute worst place in the world to discuss anything of merit. Twitter is still fun but it's starting to turn into FX's "American Horror Story." AHS is a very well written, acted and directed but it's a HEAVY show and not meant for binge watching. You can binge watch it (not recommended) but it's going to mess with your head for the next few days. The dark and eventually depressing storylines are too much of a drag, it's better to spread the episodes out over a two to three week period.

Back on topic.

I get where both players and the franchises are coming from. In Earl Thomas' case, he's the league's top free safety and wants to be compensated for that. The Seahawks, however, don't want to sink the amount into a player that's been injury prone. The 'Hawks were ultimately correct in not handing out a big contract because Thomas got hurt and is done for the season.

I don't fault Thomas for his preseason holdout or giving the bird to the 'Hawks management as he was carted off the field (100 percent hilarious though). He wanted better financial security for his family and we all know the earnings window in the NFL is short. So he took a gamble by betting on himself.

Thomas will get paid next season but it's not going to be anywhere near where he wants.

As for Bell, holding out as long as he has looks to be the right move, provided he stays healthy when he returns. The Steelers have no intention of paying Bell what he wants and were going to rack up as many carries and touches as they could before losing him this offseason. We know this because it's what the Steelers did last season when they franchise tagged him.

The Steelers don't want to tie up that much of their salary cap into three players. Last year the team had 26 percent of their salary cap spent on QB Big Ben ($18.2 million), WR Antonio Brown ($13.6 million) and Bell playing on the franchise tag ($12.1 million). With all their money dumped into the offense, it's no wonder the Steeler defense is so generous to opposing offenses.

It's understandable the Steelers want to work on balancing their team because while being an offensive juggernaut has taken them into the playoffs; it hasn't resulted in a Lombardi Trophy. Bell wants to be paid like a No. 1 RB and a No. 2 WR which would average close to $16 million a year, a price the Pittsburgh front office isn't willing to pay.

Sixteen million dollars a year for a RB is a hard pill to swallow but when you look at what Bell brings to the table, with his route running, ability to churn out tough yards and not turnover the ball, he's worth every penny. He's the best back in the league and he's the reason the Steelers have been a force on offense. Defenses have to base their entire coverage around him. Without him, defenses have keyed on Brown and the Steelers offense looks pedestrian.

Bell is worth the fleet of Brinks trucks and if the Steelers want to be honest about their situation, they should move on from Big Ben, he's been, how you say, not good this season.

I know many of the counter-arguments to Bell, Thomas and other holdouts are they're being paid millions of dollars and should be grateful, blah, blah, blah. Just stop. There's no need bringing jealously into this argument. The thing is if we had the talents of Bell we'd want the same payday. Shoot most of us have left jobs because we felt we weren't being properly compensated or found greener pastures.

There's nothing wrong with players wanting to be paid their proper value and it's fine if franchises want to be cautious when handing out those big contracts. Now I'm all for jokingly taking shots at players who overvalue their talents *cough* Kirk Cousins *cough* or franchises that are too cheap/dumb to pay premier players, e.g. Jon Gruden and the Raiders. But getting upset one way or the other is a step too far.

While we're talking about Gruden, the Gruden vs. Khalil Mack story is a fine wine, that just keeps getting better and better with age. Every week Mack dominates opposing offensive lines and Gruden makes a dumb comment like how he's stunned Mack is this good or he wished he had a pass rush.

I knew Gruden was going to be an entertaining train wreck but it has been better than I could have imagined. I think Raiders owner Mark Davis should give Gruden another $100 million. If Davis doesn't pony up, Gruden should holdout because loud, bad coaches don't come around very often.