Coming from the "you can't make this kind of stuff up" category, according to Pro Football Talk, Tatum Bell stole Rudi Johnson's bags yesterday when Johnson was meeting with Lions officials. Johnson was in Matt Millen's office and left his bags outside the door. When Johnson was done talking with the team and presumably agreeing to a deal with the Lions, his bags were gone. I'll let PFT explain the rest.
The team checked the videotapes generated by the team’s in-house surveillance system, and they quickly identified the culprit.
So who might it have been? None other than Tatum Bell, who lost his gig with the Lions after Rudi arrived.
Per the source, Bell took the bags to the house of a female acquaintance. When confronted on the matter, Bell offered up some cockamamie story that he thought the bags belonged to someone he knew. The girl, however, said that she hadn’t seen Bell in several months and he showed up out of the blue and asked her to keep the bags for a while.
I figured Bell was just joking around until I read that he tried to play off that obviously untrue story about the bags. He could have played it off as being a joke had he not taken the bags to someone's house, but because he did do that it's clear that this was the complete opposite of a joke. Bell knew that Johnson was coming in to take his job and he obviously wasn't happy about that. Being unhappy, Bell decided that the best move would be to steal the guy's bags. Yeah, that's an awesome idea.
Johnson's bags are back in his possession and PFT also reports that charges won't be filed against Bell. Still, you can bet other teams will be hearing about this story when Bell is out there looking for a new job. And to think he would've gotten away with it had it not been for a surveillance camera. Maybe the next time you're going to steal something from the guy taking your job you should make sure there are no cameras directed right on you. Better yet, don't steal from someone.
I've never liked Tatum Bell, but at the same time haven't disliked him, either. Well, after hearing about this latest story, you can imagine that my opinion of him has changed. It's one thing to be a less than stellar running back, but to be an idiot off the field is something completely different. Stealing in general is one thing, but to do it from a fellow football player? That's beyond stupidity.