By Jordan Long
The Pittsburgh Steelers finished the season at 10-7, making the playoffs as the #7 and final seed in the AFC playoffs. Their season ended when they were knocked off by the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card Round 31-17. A former Steelers’ running back is attempting an NFL comeback and hopes it is with them, Le’Veon Bell.
Bell played for the Steelers from 2013 to 2017. During those seasons, he surpassed the 1,000 mark 3 times, including a career high 1,361 rushing yards in 2014. Bell missed 2018 because he held out. The Steelers placed the franchise tag on him, anticipating it would give them more time to reach a contract extension with him before the 2018 season. On November 13th, 2018, he didn’t sign the franchise tag which meant he would miss the 2018 season.
In 2019, Bell was a free agent and agreed to a contract with the New York Jets. Bell spent all of 2019 and 2 games into 2020 with the Jets, rushing for 863 yards for them in 17 games. On October 13th, 2020 the Jets released him, meaning Bell was a free agent once again.
Kansas City picked him up for the rest of the 2020 season. Bell carried the ball 63 times for 254 yards and 2 touchdowns for Kansas City. In 2021, he was with the Baltimore Ravens and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bell hasn’t seen an NFL field since January 9th, 2022 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In that game, Bell rushed for 14 yards.
Bell wants to attempt to play again. According to CBSsports.com, Bell said, “And I’m gonna be honest with myself, I got to go out there and be like, I’m going to put my foot in the ground. Do I feel it? Am I hurting? Can I go out there and really play again? And bro, I’m telling you all right now when I go out there and train in March and if I hit April and I make this decision to come back to play in the NFL again, mark my words down — I will be better than I ever was.”
It is a great goal for him to try and play again. He is going to start training to do so. The difficulty with his comeback is his age. Bell is 31 years old. That is getting up there in age for a running back. Bell must prove he can play the game at a high level. It could be the Steelers take a chance on him and he may not make the team. If that happens, then Bell should retire from the game for good.
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