The Jets reportedly considered moving Le’Veon Bell ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline, and the veteran running back says the Steelers, Packers, Chiefs, and Texans all expressed interest in acquiring him. Appearing on his SiriusXM show “17 Weeks,” Bell said he heard through his agent that those four clubs were trying to trade for him, as Joshua Axelrod of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes.
Pittsburgh, clearly, is the most surprising possible destination mentioned by Bell, as he just left the Steelers organization after a tumultuous 2018 in which he sat out the season rather than play on the franchise tag. Given all that went down between Bell and the Steelers, it’s difficult to imagine Pittsburgh’s management re-acquiring the running back, even if he is now placated with a long-term contract.
The Packers, too, seemingly don’t make much sense as a landing spot given the continued breakout of Aaron Jones and the steady presence of backup Jamaal Williams. Houston, meanwhile, has already traded for two running backs — Duke Johnson and Carlos Hyde — and John McClain of the Houston Chronicle says the Texans were not interested in picking up Bell (Twitter link). Kansas City has deployed LeSean McCoy and Damien Williams with middling results.
“The Jets were really asking for a high price and a lot for me,” Bell said. “On top of that, my actual contract was kind of tough for teams to deal with, which is understandable. Not too many teams want to pay that high of a price for a running back.
“To be honest, I was not trying to take a pay cut, simply for the fact that I sat out a full year of football to get what I earned and deserved. That would’ve kind of defeated the whole purpose, so I didn’t want to do that.”
Bell’s remaining salary in 2019 would have been manageable for just about any team in the NFL, but he’s owed more than $13MM in 2020 between his base salary and roster bonus. Most of that money is fully guaranteed, so a club like the Steelers (who have less than $4MM in available 2020 funds) would have been hard-pressed to take on that contract.
How dare you want to take a pay cut after you did nothing and sat out last season
I’m calling BS!
Your probably not alone. Bell has an even lower credibility rating than Mike Florio.
Zing! I like you. Florio’s a clown.
Yes this article is fake.
Not saying the article is fake, but I am doubtful the teams he names actually were trying to trade for his services.
He says his agent told him who called I believe it’s more of him and his agent trying to spin the jets wanting to trade him.
Am I to believe the jets looking for more draft capital and to cut his large contract on a position that few teams are willing to spend big on would ask for too much in return or just that no one wants his services on that contract.
I think right now Le Veon Bell wouldn’t mind a trade
2 total TD and a 3.3YPC average. He didn’t seem so sure of himself in his comments. Probably because he realizes he’s not worth anywhere close to the money the Jets were dumb enough to give him.
Ah yes his TDs and YPC are all his fault, nothing to do with the Jets trash line and incompetent coach that puts NONE of his players in a position to succeed.
Spinning that the other way, it’s easy to see that any RB, even one as talented as Bell, is often only as good as the line in front of him. Maybe it WASN’T all Bell with Pittsburgh after all…
No way Packers were seriously considering a trade. Unless Jets we’re giving him away the Packers were not giving anything of value.
Fake news. No way those teams are interested.
I call bs on.the steelers. I mean unless a bunch of salary is kept by the jets cuz money was the big issue last yr . so only way they would want him back is if jets pay a portion. and the relationship I’m sure is still strained.
I mean unless Brown was some how in the middle and bell wanted to get away from him .
I saw this “Pittsburgh expressed interest…” story last night. There is much liberty taken with verbiage initiated by agents and players and perpetuated by talking heads.
I certainly don’t have direct information on this subject but a possible scenario is this:
Pittsburgh: “Hey Jets, are you seriously shopping Bell already?”
Bell’s Agent: “The Steelers were inquiring about the availability of my client.”
He is a joke.
Sounds like Bell has been getting his information from Antonio
Sure, because Bell has proven how the perception of him being the top RB in the NFL was a total lie–his value was dependent on the O-line of the Steelers blocking and making holes for him. The Steelers can plug any decent RB in there and get more yardage than Bell will get with the Jets.