New York Jets Head Coach Adam Gase Vows to Involve Le'Veon Bell in the Offense More

One week after expressing his discontent at being pulled from practice, New York Jets running back Le’Veon Bell is now being hailed an integral part of the passing offense.

Bell, who signed with the Jets last offseason in free agency, came to New York after six seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers where he was known as a playmaker both running and catching the ball. Last year, however, saw Bell with a career-low in both yards per rushing attempt (3.2) and yards per reception (7.0).

The hope for Jets head coach Adam Gase is that this year, especially behind an improved offensive line and with more balance to the offense, that Bell can replicate his time in Pittsburgh where he was three times a Pro Bowl selection.

“We’ve made sure with some of our install, we got the majority of it in. Now we kind of have been mixing it up a little bit. We’ve been trying to do a couple of things maybe we haven’t done before or he hasn’t done before. Or some things that weren’t in the early parts of the install. We’ve gotten pretty deep and gotten those guys involved,” Gase said Tuesday in his virtual press conference with the media.

“Obviously since were’ down limited backs as well, we thought kind of really kicking into gear some of the passing things - this was a good time to do it. Kind of being careful in the running game, it seems like we get a lot of bodies piled up in there. I feel good when these guys get into the passing game. He can see his route tree really expanding and we’re trying new stuff. If he likes something, we make sure we run that again. If he doesn’t like something, we’ll throw that thing away.”

Bell, a season ago, struggled to get traction in his first year in Gase’s offense. The line didn’t help, a unit among the worst in the NFL failed to consistently open up holes for a running back who is twice an All-Pro.

The line is rebuilt this offseason including four new starters. Left tackle Mekhi Becton, taken No. 11 overall, the featured addition to a unit that should be considerably better.

But part of the struggles also comes from scheme and use. In his second year in the Jets offense, Bell’s qualities are known. Gase, for one, is vowing to utilize his running back in different ways so as to get the ball into his hands in the open field.

The Jets head coach, who has praised Bell for his conditioning coming into camp, said that in terms of expanding the running back’s role in the offense “we just really got to use the full gamut and find him as many ways to get him the ball in space.”

This could mean in terms of formation, empty backfield or getting him in motion.

“I feel like we can find better ways to get him the ball to help him create more explosive plays. We can get him in space better than what we did last year,” Gase said on Tuesday.

“I think there was a lot of good that came out of what he did in the receiving game last year but I don’t think we gave him enough space to work. Because that’s his game, if he gets space to work, he’ll make a guy miss. Or if a DB is trying to tackle him, he’s hard to bring down for the secondary guys.”