3 former NY Jets' who fell short of expectations in New York

2. Le'Veon Bell, RB, NY Jets

Before the 2019 NFL season, the New York Jets signed Le'Veon Bell. Three years later, Bell is boxing former Vikings star running back Adrian Peterson, yes BOXING.

From that first two sentences alone, most readers can come to a consensus that the four-year, $52 million dollar contract he signed did not pan out exactly how the Jets planned.

Before signing his four-year contract, he would play five seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers where he would average 129 yards from scrimmage per game which would make him the league’s all-time leader among players with at least 50 career games played during that time period.

With Pittsburgh, he would record 5,336 rushing yards, 2660 receiving yards, 35 rushing touchdowns, and seven receiving touchdowns, and was regarded as one of, if not the best running back in the league before sitting out the 2018 season.

He sat out the 2018 season due to contract negotiation issues with the Steelers where he asked for $17 million dollars a season, which the Steelers were not willing to offer. Bell would end up taking a lesser contract at roughly $13 million a season with the Jets in the 2018 offseason.

Now, his production up until his 2018 missed season, he was dominating every aspect of the game and it was widely thought that his production would pick up where he left off, however, that wasn't the case.

In his first season with the NY Jets, Bell would record a measly 789 rushing yards to go alongside just three rushing touchdowns. His receiving would also be extremely lackluster where he would record just 461 yards and one touchdown.

One of Bell's most important attributes was his ability to rack up yards in both the scrimmage and rushing game, but in the 2019 season he recorded just 52 rushing yards a game and 30 receiving yards a game.

This was a drastic dip from his average of 129 scrimmage yards a game over the course of five seasons with the Steelers. Heading into the 2020 season, the Jets needed to see his performance take a leap forward.

Unfortunately, that would not happen and he would be released by the Jets after just two weeks into the 2020 season after recording just 133 yards and zero touchdowns through two games.

Once a cornerstone running back, Bell would play for the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the course of two seasons before taking a break from the sport heading into the 2022 NFL season.

Only time will tell if he can return to stardom, this time in the boxing ring.