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Le’Veon Bell’s contract with the Jets is now an unmitigated disaster

Jets' Le'Veon Bell ahead of Week 1 game against Bills
Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

It will be a while before the New York Jets are able to move on from the disaster of a contract they signed former All-Pro running back Le’Veon Bell to ahead of the 2019 NFL season.

We’ve read the reports about a major split between Bell and embattled Jets head coach Adam Gase in the past. We also know that the Jets looked to trade him after just one season.

Now comes this piece of information. It’s not great.

Jets place Le’Veon Bell on injured reserve

NFL Media’s Kim Jones was the first to report news that New York placed Bell on on injured reserve with a hamstring injury that had apparently slowed him down during training camp. He will now miss at least three weeks.

What’s interesting here is that Gase had removed Bell from practice during training camp earlier in the month with a similar injury. The star running back was not too happy about that, as he showed on social media.

It’s the continuation of problems between Bell and Gase since the Jets signed him back in March of 2018.

As for the latest injury, Bell put up 14 yards on six attempts in Week 1’s loss to the Buffalo Bills. It was obvious that he isn’t at 100%.

Le’Veon Bell’s stats with the Jets

  • It’s been downright disastrous for Bell in Jersey. Prior to holding out with the Steelers for the entire 2018 season, Bell had been among the most-productive backs in the NFL.
  • He averaged north of 1,900 total yards and 10 touchdowns between 2016-17, leading to the back demanding a huge pay day from Pittsburgh.
  • Over the coure of his first 16 games with the Jets, Bell is averaging a laughable 3.2 yards per rush. He’s tallied a mere 803 rushing yards during that span.

Le’Veon Bell’s contract

  • Unfortunately for the Jets, Bell’s contract makes it almost impossible to trade him. Now 28, Bell inked a four-year, $52.5 milion deal ahead of the 2019 season.
  • The three-time Pro Bowler is set to count a combined $28.5 million against the cap in 2021 and 2022. The Jets would incur a $17 million dead cap hit by releasing him this season.
  • No team is going to even consider trading for Bell unless he completely redoes his contract. Given the issues we saw in Pittsburgh, that’s highly unlikely.

This is just the latest example of Bell’s tenure with the Jets being an unmitigated disaster. The team was foolish to sign him to a long-term contract after the running back held out for an entire season.

It seems that Bell was not Gase’s first choice in free agency last year, either. That’s added to what has increasingly become a volatile situation between the back and his team.

How this plays out moving forward remains to be seen. But it’s not a great look right now. That’s for sure.

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