Le’Veon Bell blames Jets play calling for decline, says he’ll signal with new workforce ‘when he is prepared’

Le’Veon Bell was once thought-about the most effective working backs within the NFL, one who put up essentially the most yards from scrimmage (6,737) from 2014 to 2017. Bell deserved a excessive wage based mostly on his efficiency with the Pittsburgh Steelers and ultimately acquired it from the New York Jets — holding out a whole yr earlier than lastly cashing in in the course of the 2019 offseason. 

Because the holdout, Bell has been arguably the worst beginning working again within the NFL. The yr off did not harm Bell, however his quick tenure with the Jets did — not less than in his phrases. 

“The one distinction with the Steelers was they gave me alternative…have not had that since I left,” Bell revealed on a sequence of social media posts Thursday. “I in all probability must play for a defensive-minded head coach as a substitute of those offensive-minded guru’s.” 

Bell’s tenure in New York was a catastrophe — and he is blaming his struggles on former Jets head coach Adam Gase. In Bell’s one-and-a-half seasons with the Jets, he recorded simply 863 dashing yards and three dashing touchdowns whereas averaging a paltry 3.27 yards per carry — all final within the league among the many 16 working backs which have logged greater than 240 carries since Bell began with the Jets in 2019 up till his launch from the workforce in October 2020. 

Bell ended up with the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, ending with 63 carries for 264 yards and two touchdowns (4.0 yards per carry) in 9 video games. He has didn’t file a run of 20+ yards since Christmas Day 2017 — with the Pittsburgh Steelers — a workforce he had super success with in his remaining 4 years in Pittsburgh. Bell’s 4,476 dashing yards ranked third within the NFL amongst working backs and first in receiving yards with 2,261. 

Simply 29 years outdated, Bell nonetheless believes there may be quite a lot of good soccer left in him. Regardless of this, he stays unsigned — for now. 

“I am going to signal someplace after I’m prepared,” Bell mentioned. “Ain’t no extra finessing me with lies and s— simply to get me to signal with their workforce…no extra rushed selections on my finish, interval.”