NY Jets: Le’Veon Bell and Adam Gase at odds over potential injury dispute

NY Jets’ running back Le’Veon Bell was pulled from practice, but the reason why is disputed.

NY Jets training camp just got a little interesting — and not in a good way. Running back Le’Veon Bell was pulled from practice on Wednesday with head coach Adam Gase citing hamstring tightness.

Bell was removed from practice — a full-team scrimmage — after playing just three series. He was soon replaced by the likes of Frank Gore and La’Mical Perine who played well in his absence.

Following practice, Gase told reporters that Bell was removed for hamstring tightness, but Bell took to Twitter to share his thoughts on the situation as well.

The former All-Pro running back went on a little bit of a Twitter tirade responding to a tweet from Jets’ reporter Eric Allen that indicated that Gase pulled Bell for an injury. Bell responded with an emphatic “ain’t nothing wrong with my hamstrings.”

That, of course, sparked questions about why the two sides were telling completely different stories. But Bell wasn’t done there.

He fired off a series of subsequent tweets that seemed to indicate that he was unhappy with his playing time. Take a look.

its tough to stay loose when you do a bunch of standing around……& I’m used to GOINGGG ????

— Le'Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) August 26, 2020

exactly…I PRACTICE for a GAME!!! I need to PRACTICE to be great in GAMES!!! duh https://t.co/AcOUMBOgdt

— Le'Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) August 26, 2020

That sure doesn’t sound like a player who was pulled for an injury, even one that Gase called “precautionary.” Nonetheless, Gase stuck by his initial statement that Bell was injured.

He even went as far as to say that Bell “never wants to come out of practice” and that he won’t “unless somebody makes him.” Clearly, that somebody was Gase today.

Now, the question arises that if Bell wasn’t injured, what was the team’s plan here? Did they want to give more snaps to their backup running backs?

Fourth-round rookie La’Mical Perine saw his first reps with the first-team offense today and excelled bursting through the trenches for multiple long runs against the first-team defense.

Or perhaps Bell did feel a slight tightness in his hamstrings, but wanted to push through regardless. The Jets have been very cautious with returning players from injury this summer so it’s certainly feasible the team wanted to play it safe with Bell.

Ultimately, we may never know.

But it isn’t even Week 1 yet and we can already fire up the “Le’Veon Bell is unhappy with his touches” headlines. That’s not a good thing.

This is a situation worth monitoring over the coming days. But as of right now, all is not happy in Florham Park.