NY Jets: Le'Veon Bell rips Adam Gase and his former team
By Justin Fried
Few NY Jets free agent signings in recent memory have disappointed as much as Le'Veon Bell did with the organization.
The cause of his shortcomings has been a topic of discussion for quite some time now, but it's safe to say that neither side if particularly happy with how things turned out.
And Bell made that very clear in a recent "rant" on Twitter.
Responding to a fan that claimed the Jets "gave [Bell] what he wanted," the former All-Pro running back responded that they did from a money perspective, but "other than that," they did not.
Le'Veon Bell ripped Adam Gase and the NY Jets on Twitter
Bell then took that opportunity to set the record straight and insist the Jets didn't give him ample opportunities. He even took a shot at his former head coach, Adam Gase, when he said "I probably need to play for a defensive-minded head coach instead of these offensive-minded gurus."
Below is a look at the entire exchange.
There's a lot to unpack here, and there's probably some truth from both sides.
Bell received plenty of carries with the Jets, even if it wasn't quite as many during his time in Pittsburgh. The results were unspectacular, to say the least.
The three-time Pro Bowler averaged an abysmal 3.3 yards per carry in just 17 games with the Jets after signing a massive four-year, $52 million contract in the 2019 offseason.
That's an entire yard less per carry than what he averaged in Pittsburgh. It's easy to point to Bell's struggles and insist that it was all on him, but that likely isn't the case.
Bell was thrust into a very poor offensive system with a terrible offensive line. As Bell stated, just because he was given touches, doesn't mean he was given true opportunities.
That being said, his failure to make any impact at all in Kansas City last season doesn't help his case. Bell carried the ball 63 times for 254 yards and two touchdowns with the Chiefs averaging 4.0 yards per carry.
In the end, Bell's struggles in New York were due to a variety of factors.
Some of it was certainly a result of a poor system that didn't afford him the same opportunities he had with the Steelers. But some of it could certainly be placed on his shoulders as well — he just wasn't the same player he was in Pittsburgh.
Le'Veon Bell will go down as one of the biggest free-agent busts in NY Jets history. The cause of which remains undetermined, but that much can't be disputed.