Jets coach says Le’Veon Bell is in ‘great’ spot in KC. As for his time in New York...
A one-game, six-carry peek into Le’Veon Bell’s fresh start indicates potential for a promising marriage in Kansas City.
The bumpy divorce in New York that preceded it? Well, that remains clouded in mystery.
How Bell, 28, could go from one of the league’s most dangerous dual threats to one of its worst-performing running backs is a query worthy of examination. And with Bell’s current team playing his former one Sunday, the matchup appropriately invokes the question.
But not from the two parties involved apparently — not with any sort of depth anyway.
“For whatever reason, it didn’t (work out),” Jets coach Adam Gase said in a conference call with Kansas City media Wednesday. “He’s there now. We’re focused on what we have to do to get ready for this game.”
“There’s not too much I can say as to why it didn’t work out in New York,” Bell said after joining the Chiefs last week. “It just didn’t work out.”
Looking back, the Jets-Bell — or Gase-Bell —relationship could have been doomed before its start, when Gase reportedly attempted to persuade the front office not to give Bell the four-year, $52.5 million contract that made him the league’s second-highest paid running back.
They did.
The regret was nearly immediate, with Bell averaging 3.2 yards per carry in 2019, second worst in the NFL. Both parties continued to say the right things — they were figuring it out; it would eventually come together. And during the offseason, Gase insisted he would deploy Bell in a more advantageous manner.
They didn’t.
The experiment lasted only two starts in 2020, and it looked quite similar to the one that unfolded throughout 2019. How could a union with a perennial weapon with the Steelers go this poorly? Neither said wants to address it publicly, but there are hints at a primary factor.
Deployment.
Days before his departure in New York, Bell “liked” a Tweet critical of the way Gase used him in the Jets’ offense. Gase expressed disappointment in that maneuver, hoping such a conversation could take place in private. But by all indications, those conversations did take place.
Regularly. The usage, however, remained irregular.
“My last conversation with him — we talked, and it seemed that the conversation was good,” Gase said. “Me and him, we had a lot of conversations over the year and a half we were around each other. There was never really negative conversations as far as being angry at each other. We tried to talk through things a lot.”
The Jets are 0-7 as they arrive in Kansas City this weekend. There are demands for Gase to open the page to more creative playcalls.
Under Andy Reid, the Chiefs have rarely lacked creativity. Bell seemed to notice. Before playing a snap with the Chiefs, he said the offense in Kansas City was more open, more horizontal. It has more misdirection and plays in the book that allow him to work in space. That’s one of the reasons he chose the Chiefs after his release from New York, a time in which he had a handful of other suitors.
In his debut, Bell managed 39 yards on six carries. The burst arrived on his first, a stretch play to the left.
“I think the offense fits him,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “He can see his talents and what he does best show up in this offense. He could see it before he got here, and then he had a chance to show it the other day. I think that for a player, that’s a positive thing. I can’t tell you how he felt in New York — I don’t know that. But with ours, he can see it. We put him to work. I think that’s what he wanted. He wants to play.”
There’s one more difference between his new team and his old one, which Gase actually brought up Wednesday in his teleconference.
The Chiefs win. They won a Super Bowl in February, and they’re a contender for its encore this season. The Jets are the only team in football without a victory.
“We had an idea that this was one of the teams he could possibly go to,” Gase said. “For him to get on a team that’s this good and that’s going to have a chance to win another Super Bowl, that’s great for him. The way he was used to in Pittsburgh, he’s more back in that situation now.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2020 at 3:49 PM.