When running back Le’Veon Bell chose to give up on his team in 2018 and sit out, he did it in part to save his body for his next team. There’s no denying when he wasn’t injured or suspended, the Pittsburgh Steelers made him the feature back and piled on the touches. But after only one season with the New York Jets, it seems they are already wanting to cut back his workload. But why? Let’s talk about that.
According to Steelers beat writer Tim Benz, Jets head coach Adam Gase spoke about Bell and talked about using other backs to lighten his workload in 2020. Gase said he wants to bring in some of the younger guys to help not make it all about Bell. Gase also talked about adding more vertical threats in the passing game to make life easier on Bell.
Bell signed a huge free-agent contract with the Jets before the start of last season and then followed it up with a completely underwhelming performance. It isn’t hard to look at this as a plan to get through 2019 with a fresh Bell and move toward trading him in the offseason.
The problem with Bell and his contract is every other back who has signed a massive contract in the last two seasons has done the exact opposite of re-setting the market. Todd Gurley, David Johnson and Bell all underperformed after getting their huge new deals. There’s no denying Bell’s talent but for the Jets, balancing his salary with production might not be worth continuing.
