Le'Veon Bell: 'I'll Never Play for Andy Reid Again'
"I'll never play for Andy Reid again... I'd retire first."
With an uncommon sentiment for departing members of the Kansas City Chiefs, former running back Le'Veon Bell took a shot at Chiefs head coach Andy Reid in an Instagram comment, as captured by chiefs.intel on Instagram and verified by Arrowhead Report.
Bell also tweeted something that seemed Chiefs-adjacent in late May, which clearly seems like a frustration with Reid and perhaps New York Jets head coach Adam Gase in light of the Instagram comment.
lol the only difference with the steelers was they gave me opportunity... haven’t had that since I left, I probably need to play for a defensive minded head coach instead of these offensive minded guru’s ...
Bell appeared in nine games with the Chiefs after being released by the Jets in 2020, recording 63 carries for 254 yards and two touchdowns at a 4.0 yards-per-carry pace with just 28.2 rushing yards per game. He also caught 13 passes for 99 yards. Down the stretch of the season, even in the absence of the injured Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Bell often saw backup running back Darrel Williams take the field ahead of him. Bell is still a free agent.
Bell also tweeted about his patience, waiting to sign with another team this offseason, noting that he didn't want any other teams "finessing [him] with lies and s--t just to get me to sign with [their] team," presumably again expressing his frustrations with the Chiefs and the Jets.
What exactly is going on here?
Seeing a former player sideswipe Reid and the Chiefs this way is extremely uncommon. While it would make sense for Bell to ultimately be disappointed in the way his Chiefs tenure wrapped up, as he certainly expected to be a bigger part of the offense in 2020, it's a bit hard to imagine Reid underutilizing a player in a major way. It seems more likely that Reid and the Chiefs thought Bell had less in the tank than Bell believed he did, and as a player who lived near the top of the sport for a half-decade with the Pittsburgh Steelers, this is an unusual place for Bell to find himself.
Perhaps Bell will leave an unfavorable review if any of his close friends in the league ask him about the Chiefs, but Reid and KC will still have a significantly larger number of positive endorsers around the league. Perhaps the Bells and LeSean McCoys of the world will be slower to come to Kansas City, but that shouldn't exactly bring down a potential dynasty.
Updates: Bell responds, Tyrann Mathieu sounds off
On Sunday night, Bell tweeted about the back-and-forth and stood his ground on the matter. (The below block quote encompasses several of Bell's tweets, copied exactly as they were sent.)
I said what I said & I don’t regret at all what I said...for those who have a PERSONAL PROBLEM with me because of what I SAID, that’s fine...you have your right! just understand I ALSO have MY RIGHT for how I feel about MY PERSONAL problem with dude because of what HE SAID to me
never did I say I didn’t enjoy my time in KC, because I loved my time there, and was probably the closest locker room full of players I ever been around...I enjoyed my teammates, the city, food, the fans, just about everything in KC...
I’m not about to get all into depth on why I feel the way I do, but I have my right to feel the way I feel...the ONLY thing I would change is commenting how i really felt on social media...
I’ll admit that’s somethin I could’ve and should’ve kept to myself & I apologize about that and that only... but I don’t regret what I said, because that’s how I feel...
so you can love me or hate me, I’m gonna be fine regardless ... I’m just giving you a small version from my point of view on why I said what I said ...
Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu responded to Bell's initial comments, tweeting, "These fellas will blame everybody for their lack of success. That’s how I know I’m built different." Bell responded with, "lol ok."
Read More: Who Will Start at Right Guard for the Chiefs in 2021?
