In order for the Jets to have a decent season, they probably need a monster year from running back Le’Veon Bell.
So shouldn’t Bell and Adam Gase put all their differences aside, and work together, for the common good of their team?
As for why there’ve been issues in this relationship, there’s plenty of blame to go around here.
Somebody, perhaps from Gase’s camp, told NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport last spring, that the coach thought the team’s former GM, Mike Maccagnan, overpaid the running back. Bell got a four-year deal for $52.5 million with $27 million guaranteed.
“Liked the player, didn’t love the money is how I heard it on Le’Veon Bell,” Rapoport tweeted on May 15, 2019
This might have come from somebody in Gase’s camp trying to explain the differences that led to the firing of Maccagnan.
But leaking this to Rapoport was clearly a mistake. How does it help the Jets, Bell knowing that Gase thinks he’s overpaid? That contract was water under the bridge at that point. Just leave it alone.
As for Bell, he got off to a bad start with the new coach by not attending his very first Jets off-season program, which is very unusual in NFL circles, for a newly-signed player. It was a chance to get a head start on learning the offense and also develop chemistry with his new teammates, especially his quarterback.
So Gase and Bell got off to a rough start, and other things have happened since, like Bell going bowling the night before a game he was inactive, and now “Hamstring-gate” this summer. Gase said Bell was held out of a recent scrimmage due a tight hamstring, and Bell said his hamstring is fine.
But the coach and player need to put all this in the past. They need each other. They Jets are thin at running back, and even if they weren’t, Bell is one of their most talented players, and they need a big season from him. He’s a skillful runner and a gifted receiver, Let’s not forget this guy was a three-time Pro Bowler in Pittsburgh.
The bottom line is these two individuals need to bury the hatchet for the sake of their team. They need each other, and the team needs a huge season from Bell.
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