Is Le'Veon Bell Still Worth the Attention

Yesterday, a few days after being released by the Jets, Le’Veon Bell signed with the Chiefs.

On paper this is a solid signing. He is a decent enough back still, doesn't have as many miles on him as he maybe should, and he wanted out of a bad situation and ended up in a great situation. This also adds, in theory, a ton more firepower to an already loaded offense. I don't exactly know how Bell will fit in, and the rookie they have, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, has been really solid so far, but if you can get Bell on a deal like the Chiefs did, why not take a half a year chance on him. So kudos to the Chiefs for taking a chance on a guy that can make them even more lethal than they already are. But, has anyone in a long time had further of a fall than Bell did after sitting out a whole year due to contract stuff?

For those that may not know, Bell sat out an entire year because he felt he was underpaid and overused. In both cases he was right, at the time. And, I agreed with his decision. He was making the best decision for himself, the team was essentially abusing him and running backs' shelf lives in the NFL are so short now, why not get paid the most you can when you can? Bell made the correct financial decision. But, was it the right career move? That is a loaded question. Bell did get paid, eventually. He also sat out a whole year of his prime. This was good and bad. It was good because it helped him preserve his body and possibly prolong his career. It hurt because he was one of the best, if not the best overall back in the league at the time, and he took off a full season. He just sat there and waited. Pittsburgh was never going to trade him or pay him that year, and they found a suitable player to take over, James Connor. The Steelers called his bluff, and unfortunately for Bell, he did not win. They eventually traded him to the Jets, and the Jets paid him. They gave him pretty much what he wanted, and it all seemed rosy at first. I remember people praising the deal, and people saying this was going to put them over the top, and that they could contend soon. I even liked the move at the time.

Then the Jets hired Adam Gase as head coach, and it all went down from there. The two of them did not get along. They constantly butted heads and aired stuff publicly. Gase told the media that everyone except Sam Darnold was available for trades last year, and this rubbed Bell the wrong way. And then Bell's play on the field suffered. He did nothing, at all, for the Jets. I don't know if it was play calling, if he lost a step, if he didn't try because he disliked the coach and already got paid, but the Jets version of Le’Veon Bell was so far removed from the Pittsburgh version. He was a forgettable player. I honestly forgot he was still playing until the Jets released him. I did see that they were trying to trade him, but they couldn't even get a 7th round pick for him. Then he had a list of teams that he would play for, but some, including the 49ers, said stuff like, "we are good with our guys". Bell wasn't even wanted now. And whenever a player puts out a list of teams they will play for, that is a sign to me that they are grasping at straws, trying to stay relevant. When Bell whittled his "list" to three teams, some reporter noted it was the Jets next three opponents. That is such a childish move in my book. And now that he has signed with the Chiefs, I just kind of shrug my shoulders.

I know it looks good on paper, but what really is he going to bring them? He isn't the runner he used to be, he is not as good a pass catcher, and the Chiefs already have better, younger talent at the position. This kind of feels like late Lesean McCoy. McCoy was supposed to be the "guy" for Buffalo, but he just kind of faded. The Bills went with the younger players, and they were better, and stayed healthy. I kind of see that happening with Bell. I think he will come in this season, not do much, Edwards-Helaire will cement his spot as the number one back and Bell will be gone as soon as the season is over, looking for another new team.

I feel for Bell because I fully supported and understood why he sat out a year. But his bluff was called, and more than answered, and now he is a nomadic, has been running back. He had those early good years, but now, he just seems like a guy that will take one year deals, until he is out of the league in the next two to three years. At least he got his though. That cannot be taken away from him. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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What are the Jets and Cardinals Thinking?

artist depiction of Ty trying to make sense of the new NFL coaches

I need to watch "Bandersnatch" one more time before I write about it, there is a ton to unpack. But I promise that will be coming to you guys tomorrow. With that being said, I do need to talk about some more NFL coaching news. I said what I had to say about Matt LaFleur and the Packers yesterday. But, there are 2 more hires that have me even more startled and flabbergasted than LaFluer to Green Bay. The 2 in question you ask, Adam Gase to the Jets and, even worse, Kliff Kingsbury to Arizona.

Lets unpack the Gase hiring first. I know that he has somewhat of a background in offense, but you are going to go with a guy that has an overall losing record in his career as a head coach and struggled mightily in Miami the past 2 years? Why? How is this any different than what they have done the past 3 years with Todd Bowles? Hell, I think Bowles is a better head coach, who was put in a horrible situation. I assumed, much like a lot of other people, that the Jets would go with one of these young offensive gurus. Hell, I even read all the stuff about them willing to give Jim Harbaugh a "offer he couldn't refuse", like they're the god damn mafia or something. But no, they went with a guy with a career record of 23-25. A guy that couldn't develop Ryan Tannehill, although I don't think anyone really can. A guy that way overused a future hall of fame running back in Frank Gore. And a guy that couldn't get his defense to stop anyone. This is odd. As I said, I figured they'd go with a young offensive guy, or even a veteran coach with a slight background in offense. I thought they were primed to hire someone that has worked with Sean McVay, like his QB coach. Or I thought they would try and lure Josh McDaniels. I thought maybe they would go after a college coach with a high octane offense. Or, which if they had done this I would have cracked up, Mike McCarthy. But they chose Gase. I feel like anyone of the people I mentioned would have been a better hire, especially for Sam Darnold. He is young, but I feel like he has a bright future that will now be stunted. Gase is going to want to do the whole ball control thing and win ugly. That is not what the Jets need. They need to let Darnold fling it, take some lumps on the way and turn into the type of QB you can build an offense around. Hiring Gase is more likely to push Darnold's emergence back for awhile. I don't think it is too much to say that it may even ruin him. This is a head scratcher.

But what the Cardinals did may be the worst hire of the entire offseason. I usually don't agree with Stephen A Smith, pretty much never, but I do think he is right that this is a bad hire. He took it a bit too far, but his main idea behind his insane rant, I agree with. What has Kingsbury done in his entire coaching career to merit a job as an NFL head coach? He went 35-40 in his career at Texas Tech. He has had 3 straight losing seasons. And it's not like he is playing in the SEC. Texas Tech is a Big 12 team. Sure, they would start the year strong, but that would be against far inferior opponents. When they had to play the Oklahoma's and Texas' and even the Kansas State's of the world, his "explosive" offense was shut down. They couldn't do a thing against a semi competent defense. But he somehow turned that into a NFL head coaching job. What makes this hire even odder, he had to resign from USC as their OC just to get an interview. It wasn't a given that he would get the job, but he quit anyway just to interview. But, to make it more and more weird, it seems Arizona was just waiting for him to quit to interview him and give him the job. I mean, what the hell?! I know he coached Patrick Mahomes in college, but that was college. I know he pushed Baker Mayfield out of Tech for a different QB, but so what. I know he has ties to Sean McVay. But a NFL head coach he is not.

Also, I do not think his offense will translate to the NFL. I know that the NFL has become obsessed with the college game, and the wide open spread passing attacks, but what team in the NFL truly plays that way that is any good? Sure, the Browns started to play the spread a bit more after Hue Jackson got fired, but they finished with a losing record. The Ravens added some spread elements when Lamar Jackson took over, but they got bounced in the first round, and as much as I like Jackson, and think he will be a star, he fumbled far, far too much. Some may say the Rams run it, they do not. The Rams like to run the ball with Gurley to open the pass game. Everything goes through their running back. The only team left in the playoffs that run some form of spread is the Chiefs. But, they have a multitude of weapons. They have the right speed guys. They run the ball and they use the tight end. Who does Arizona have besides Josh Rosen, who I have already read that they may be willing to trade so they can take Kyler Murray? They have David Johnson, but he is not the same guy after his injury. He just doesn't have that explosiveness that he did 3 years ago. I love love love Larry Fitzgerald, but I think he might be older than me, and in NFL years he may as well be 100. Outside of those guys, I cannot think of one solid offensive NFL player. Their defense, especially if they trade Patrick Peterson, and I hope they do for his sake, is bad. And Kingsbury doesn't care about defense anyway.

This hire reminds me a ton of when Washington hired Steve Spurrier, except Spurrier actually won double digit games year after year and he won national titles. Kingsbury never did that. But Spurrier was supposed to revolutionize the game. And when they exploded in his preseason debut, everyone thought the game was going to change. I don't remember, did that happen? Did Spurrier win a bunch of games and super bowl's? Did he coach a ton of MVP's? Did he even last three years? No, no and no. And Kingsbury is a far inferior coach compared to Spurrier. This is bizarre. I cannot believe a team that I kind of like would hire such a poor coach to run their team. This is going to blow up in their face for sure. I'm certain he won't make it through his entire contract. Kliff Kingsbury is the new Lane Kiffin. He is failing upwards and it is puzzling. I'm shocked by this. It will never, ever make sense to me. What a weird thing to do.

The Packers made a strange hire, and then the Jets made a stranger one, and then the Cardinals upped them all and made the strangest of head coaching hires. To quote the great Vince Lombardi, “What the hell is going on out here”.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is waiting for the Cincinnati Bengals to make all these hires look good when they bring in the top Madden player to run their squad.

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