After sitting out all of the preseason — and all of last season — Le’Veon Bell is ready to carry the football for the Jets in Week 1 against the Bills.
The Jets sat Bell out the entire preseason in order to ease him back into football shape after missing the 2018 season with the Steelers. But with Week 1 approaching0, Bell has already told Adam Gase to take off the training wheels and let him fly.
“When I spoke to him yesterday, he said, ‘Don’t hold back,’ Gase told reporters. “So he feels like he’s ready to go and I think he’s pretty excited to get out there.”
Bell has been very vocal throughout training camp about his eagerness to get back into a football game. He was itching to play in the preseason, but the team took the cautious approach nstead. Now that the regular is about to begin, Bell is ready to get as many carries as he can.
“When I said don’t hold back, I mean literally that,” Bell said. “I’m ready to play football. I been waiting a long time for this moment.”
With a year away from football, Bell feels he is as fresh as he’s ever been in his career. The workload that he received in Pittsburgh was unsustainable and could’ve put his career in jeopardy. That’s why he was willing to hold out until he got paid. But now that Bell has his money, he wants to take his touches to new extremes.
“I can carry it 50 [times] if you ask me to,” Bell said. “I’m ready.”
The Jets likely won’t allow Bell to have that many touches given that they are invested in him for another three years. However, it’s clear that he’s excited to be back — and ready to go from zero to 60 real fast.
