New York Jets Head Coach Adam Gase On Le'Veon Bell's Release: "It Didn't Work Out"
Le’Veon Bell is no longer a New York Jets running back, the parting between the two sides not exactly leaving a warm, fuzzy feeling.
The Jets cut Bell on Tuesday, ending a strange season-plus in New York for the All-Pro running back. Signed with much fanfare last offseason, Bell instead produced 17 games of disappointing output behind an offensive line that has been among the worst in the NFL since 2019.
The relationship between Bell and Jets head coach Adam Gase always seemed strained. Asked on Wednesday about if Bell was misused, Gase tersely responded that “It’s irrelevant at this point.”
“It didn’t work. It didn’t work out and we’ll have to focus on this game right now,” Gase said in his virtual press conference.
This season, Bell was limited following a hamstring injury of the Jets season-opening loss at the Buffalo Bills. He returned this past week with 13 carries for 60 yards plus one catch for seven yards in a 30-10 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. It was good output given his limited involvement in the offense.
His lack of inclusion, especially for a team struggling to move the ball, is puzzling at best.
Apparently upset over his status within the offense, Bell took to Twitter following Sunday’s Jets loss and ‘liked’ several posts that highlighted his lack of touches on the ball. He went one step further, also ‘liking’ several tweets about how he should be traded.
The message from Bell was clear that he had enough of his usage.
The marriage was always a strange one. Bell was signed last offseason by then general manager Mike Maccagnan, a hefty investment of four years at $52.5 million with $27 million guaranteed. The Jets had multiple holes to fill on the team, including at offensive line, and Bell seemed like a luxury signing at the time.
Now with a new general manager in Joe Douglas and a head coach in Gase who never seemed fully on-board with signing Bell in the first place, the marriage between the All-Pro running back and the Jets seemed doomed.
“At the end of the day offensively, we haven’t really done a whole bunch to really impress anybody right now,” Gase said. “We got a lot of things we have to get corrected, we got a lot of things we have to do better. We have to coach better, we have to play better and that’s really as an entire team.”
