you think he would take 17mill before he take a 2yr contract?
Actually, yes.
If a player makes 17 million this year, all he has to make is 3 million next year to make the same amount of money over the same time span.
Obviously, a player who got 17 million this year thinks he's going to be good enough to command more than 3 million in the open market next year.
don't try to explain everything with logic. there's a player "satisfaction" rating that have an influence on the decision
I even have witnessed a player take a MLE offer from one team over a 3yr deal starting at 5.5mio from another team, apparently making the decision because of potentially more playing time