Pro Football Talk broke the Tatum Bell stole Rudi Johnson’s bags story yesterday, and 24 hours later the picture isn’t completely clear. What is known is Tatum Bell is on camera taking Rudi Johnson’s bags. What’s unknown is if it was a simple mistake turned theft or a straight up jack.

Rudi Johnson says Tatum Bell looked “suspect” on the tape, the organization isn’t saying anything, and Bell is trying to clear his name.

From the Detroit Free Press:

Knowing he was going to be released, Bell went to clean out his locker. Former teammate Victor DeGrate, who played at the same high school and college as Bell and had been cut Saturday, asked him to grab his backpack. Bell grabbed two bags by the computer area, thinking they were DeGrate’s.

“I didn’t have a clue,” Bell said. “I wasn’t thinking or nothing at the time. I just grabbed the backpack and grabbed the other bag. It wasn’t in nobody’s locker or nothing like that. It was just sitting right there by the computers. … So I grabbed them and put them in the car.”

This is the beginning of the story and things are already shaky. If DeGrate said grab my backpack why did Tatum pick up a backpack and a bag?

Bell continues his explanation:

“I said, ‘If you look on film, I wasn’t in no hurry or nothing. I was just going about my day,’ ” Bell said. “I tried to talk to Rudi yesterday, but he was pretty upset, so I let it go. So now it’s that I’m being a thief. I come to found out that the bags weren’t whose I thought they was. It was just an honest mistake, man.”

Just because he wasn’t running doesn’t mean Tatum Bell wasn’t stealing. He would’ve drawn attention to himself if he picked up the bags and hauled ass out of the facilities so he had to play it cool. The worst thing about the situation is that Rudi Johnson got his bags back but they were empty. What the hell? If you’re gonna steal a man’s clothes and money you might as well keep the bag they came in too.