What the Kansas City Chiefs said with their pursuit of running back Le’Veon Bell
The Chiefs are speaking as clearly as possible now. They are 4-1, Super Bowl champions and betting favorite to do it again. They are the kings of the AFC West, with no apparent term limit.
And it’s not good enough.
They’re telling you that loudly, with actions. They are scoring nearly 30 points per game, with the NFL’s best offense according to leading metrics. They drafted a running back with their most recent first round pick.
And it’s not good enough.
They pursued Le’Veon Bell after the Jets released him this week, despite the red flags that other teams might see. And on Thursday, Bell chose the Chiefs over reported interest from the Bills, Dolphins, and others.
This is significant, and not just the football stuff. The Chiefs are telling us who they are, and what they want. They are making the standards clear, and the ambition obvious.
Bell might be cooked. He’s averaged 3.3 yards per rush the last two seasons. He has not had a run 20 yards or longer in three years. Maybe he’s a more disappointing version of LeSean McCoy, except carrying the ball closer to his chest.
But the Chiefs wanted him, and they should. His contract will be small by NFL standards, first. The Steelers squeezed everything out of his rookie contract that they could — he averaged 27.5 touches per game his last two seasons there — but he’s only 28.
More than that, he is a proud former star who got cross with his most recent (and by all accounts hopelessly overmatched) head coach. He feels misused, mistreated, disrespected. The Chiefs are his lifeboat. His platform. There is every reason to believe they will get his best, whatever that is.
One of the competitive advantages Andy Reid brings is that he usually gets the most out of players other teams label as problematic. You don’t have to look far to see this: Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce and Sammy Watkins are critical parts of Reid’s offense.
This fits what we know about the Chiefs’ front office, too. The biggest difference between general manager Brett Veach’s value system and former GM John Dorsey’s is how they see aging players. Dorsey spent big as Dwayne Bowe approached 30, and the second contract extension for Tamba Hali was an immediate mistake.
Veach prioritizes youth over experience, but makes an exception for cheap veterans with star track records. McCoy, Darrelle Revis, Keleche Osemele — these are all former All-Pros whose relationship with a former team went sour for one reason or the other and signed with the Chiefs in their 30s. Bell is the latest.
Osemele and Bell were teammates with the Jets last year, actually. They’ll have a lot to talk about.
The Chiefs’ interest in Bell made enormous sense, is the point. It’s not a perfect football fit. The positive is that Bell’s versatility fits in an offense that values running backs who can catch. The negative is that his style is famously patient, which isn’t ideal for an offensive line that struggles with point-of-attack run blocks.
But there are no perfect answers in football, and between Bell’s will and Reid’s brain the Chiefs would figure to come as close as anyone to maximizing production.
The move made sense more broadly, too. The Chiefs do not have the backfield they planned on having. They expected Damien Williams — 5.5 yards per carry across the last half of 2019 and the playoffs — to form a dynamic partnership with first-round pick Clyde Edwards-Helaire.
With Williams opting out — and hopefully this doesn’t need to be said, but good for him doing what’s best for his family — and given Edwards-Helaire’s production since the opener, the run game has been stuck.
The team that had interest in Adrian Peterson before the season never stopped looking, particularly with the run game struggling. The effects of that are far reaching. Opponents flood the field with defensive backs, daring the Chiefs to run it. When they can’t do so effectively, the defense’s strategy is rewarded, and the offense’s job more difficult.
One of Veach’s strongest principles is to keep the team’s strengths strong. That’s why they keep investing so heavily in the pieces around Mahomes.
In a perfect world, the answer for the run game’s struggles would be in house. But Darrel Williams has been given just 11 carries, Darwin Thompson hasn’t earned trust, and DeAndre Washington is a recent practice squad promotion who’s averaged 3.4 yards per carry the last three years.
Signing Bell is a reminder that #RunItBack does not mean stay in place. It means an obligation to pursue even the possibility of a minor improvement, wherever that might be.
The Chiefs are in an enviable position. Their current problems would be a lot of teams’ hopes. But their message is clear: not good enough.
This story was originally published October 15, 2020 at 2:43 PM.