I had this same argument about Revis leaving: in my opinion, there is virtually no measurable benefit to a player from making say $10M rather than say $6M. If there is a benefit at all, that benefit is overwhelmingly outweighed by the hassle and inconvenience of leaving a place that one likes being and that likes you, not to mention the risk of hurting the team overall by reducing salary cap flexibility. Surely it's not as fun to play for some losing team, is it? Or in a city where you're not an icon?
But when I brought up this argument around the Revis negotiation time (where the numbers were much more preposterous), people chimed in with arguments about "respect", the expense of supporting entourages, and some sort of argument I never quite followed about how hard it is to live on a seven figure salary (eight figures in Revis' case).
How did these memes start? A player must support an entourage? Why? Salary is a sign of "respect"? How?
It seems to me that being the #1 cornerback in a town where you're the hero playing for a strong team and brilliant coaches is the respect you're after. Why would they make you #1 corner if they didn't respect you? And I think supporting an entourage would generally be unpleasant, making it difficult to have normal friends.