Le'Veon Bell admits he made a mistake not re-signing with Pittsburgh Steelers

Le’Veon Bell was in a reflective mood as he talked about the past decade of his football career. His first official carry with the Steelers came in 2013 at London’s Wembley Stadium. For his final carry, Bell wore a Bucs jersey and faced off against the Panthers. That came in the final game of 2021.

Bell hasn’t played a down of football since then. His biggest athletic competition since then was a boxing match against an influencer on YouTube. Bell did an interview this week with the Steel Here podcast. And he looked back on a messy contract dispute and a subsequent divorce with the Steelers as a definitive career turning point.

“It was like a little petty, the guarantee stuff… I’m thinking could I have just ate it?” Le’Veon Bell said. “Yeah, I probably could’ve, yeah, I probably could’ve really ate it.”

Let’s refresh your memory about what happened in 2018. You can say Bell got greedy and probably overplayed his bargaining hand with Pittsburgh. He’d put together back-to-back seasons of at least 1,200 rushing yards. He was one of the best tailbacks in the NFL.

The Steelers placed the franchise tag on Bell, offering him $14.5 million for that season. For context, the salary was so lucrative that the amount would rank third among today’s running backs. But Bell wanted a contract with fully guaranteed money. He stood firmly behind that desire, too, because Bell refused to sign the offer. So the tailback sidelined himself. The impasse went past a November deadline, which made him ineligible to play for the rest of the season, whether he signed the offer or not.

Le’Veon Bell was a free agent in 2019. And he signed with the Jets. The contract numbers — $52 million over four years, with $27 million guaranteed. But for whatever reason, Bell’s career nose-dived. He gained 789 yards with the Jets in 2019. He also caught 66 passes for 461 yards. From there, he crashed.

Le’Veon Bell got into the Jets’ dog house when he gave the impression on social media that he wanted the Jets to trade him. Instead, the team cut him. He finished the 2020 season with the Chiefs. By 2021, Bell found himself with the Ravens. And he finished the season with the Bucs. He looked nothing like a running back who only three years before, refused to sign a $14.5 million deal because it wasn’t guaranteed.

Bell didn’t play at all last fall. But he doesn’t consider himself officially retired. Rather, on the Steel Here podcast, Bell suggested he re-sign with the Steelers so he could receive a few carries with his old team before calling it a career.

“The day when I do retire, it is going to be with Pittsburgh,” Le’Veon Bell said. “Before I do that, I may be like, ‘Hey, let me get a couple of carries in the preseason so I can show y’all something.’”