Le’Veon Bell did not play in 2022. He boxed.
The NFL seems far away for the former Steelers prodigy. Guest of the Steel Here podcast, Bell lifted the veil behind the scenes of his main passage in the NFL. First, Pittsburgh, the team that drafted him in the second round in 2013.
Behind the impressive statistics of the time, there was not only water.
“When I played, I smoked my friend. Even before games I was smoking and then I was going to run for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns,” he confessed.
After the joints, there were the negotiations. In 2018, Le’Veon Bell is tagged for the second year in a row. He refuses to sign. Negotiations get bogged down and he does not play for the season. An episode that leaves him with some regrets.
“I didn’t want to leave Pittsburgh, because ultimately it was home. That’s where I got drafted. Especially after being in other teams and seeing how it goes. When a team has their guy, you are their guy. I was a guy from Pittsburgh.
Now I tell myself that I may have been a little proud. The story of guaranteed money, I think I could have sat on that? Yeah, I probably could have. »
Mike Tomlin rather than Adam Gase
After Pittsburgh, Bell played for the Jets in 2019. A season with Adam Gase which above all allowed the runner to discover the importance of having a good coach.
“Buddy, in New York, that’s when you immediately realize how much the coach makes a huge difference. As soon as I arrived in New York, I understood that the first week. OK, the team was not amazing, but I tell myself that if Mike Tomlin had coached this team, we would have won at least 9 games (the Jets finished at 7-9, editor’s note). It was to a point where Sam Darnold didn’t even know what the line protection scheme was because he was confused by our attack. Because the coach was confusing him. »
In hollow, it is therefore a little nostalgia for Pittsburgh that takes shape. And at only 31 years old, Bell would not say no to a last freelance.
“I never officially retired. The day I retire will be with Pittsburgh. I will try to retire with Pittsburgh. But before, I would like to say: “Hey, give me some balls in preseason so that I can show you. »
The ball is in the Steelers’ court for a reunion and reconciliation.
