Adam Gase Says Le'Veon Bell Spat is Over: 'You're Able to Come to Me With Anything'
The Le’Veon Bell spat that went viral on Wednesday appears to be over. New York Jets head coach Adam Gase said that he talked with Bell about the tiff, clearing the air with his star running back.
On Wednesday during an intra-squad scrimmage, Bell was pulled out of the game following a member of the Jets medical staff reporting to Gase that the All-Pro had experienced some hamstring discomfort. Bell took to social media to contradict what Gase said about the soft-tissue injury in his virtual press conference.
“We talked for a long time the other day, we’re in the middle of that scrimmage, I’m calling plays non-stop. When somebody comes up and tells me ‘Hey a guy is out and there is an issue there’ my answer is ‘Got it.’ It’s like a game, that’s kind of what happens during a game,” Gase said Saturday during his virtual press conference with the media.
“I was caught off-guard a little bit but we had a good talk. I told him I thought our relationship was better than him going on social media and him being able to come talk to me. We talked about a bunch of stuff, we talked about things maybe we can do a little different.”
Gase expounded on his one-on-one with Bell, who projects to be the Jets starting running back and an integral part of the offense in 2020.
“He understood how I was going to try and do some things in practice," Gase said. "For me it’s, he’s a veteran player that has been around for a while, he knows when I explain some things to him. He understood what we’re trying to do in practice.
“He knows what we’re trying to do in practice, we’re trying to thread the needle on quite a few things with reps, trying to get guys in good shape heading into Week 1. This is unfamiliar territory to all of us. We are just trying to find the best way to get ourselves ready for the first game of the year.”
The social media outburst comes after an offseason where Bell has publicly – and repeatedly – said he has bought into the direction of the Jets rebuild. And last month when the Jets traded away Jamal Adams after the safety spent the offseason bashing the team, Bell came to the defense of the organization’s decision to trade away a huge star.
And there’s the fact that Bell showed up to training camp in tremendous shape, earning praise from Gase.
So the Jets head coach was a bit floored when he saw Bell took to social media to express his discontentment.
“I told him exactly what happened and what I was told,” Gase said. “To me, I was like, we talk almost every day whether it was in the building or outside the building. You’re able to come to me with anything. He understood where I was coming from.”
Bell was signed by the Jets last offseason by former general manager Mike Maccagnan to a four-year, $52.5 million deal. Behind a terrible offensive line, he had a career-low 3.2 yards per carry.
