Former Steelers All-Pro Trying to Make NFL Comeback
Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell has kept busy since he played his last NFL snap more than two years ago.
In 2022, Bell appeared on The Masked Singer, singing “Jump On It” and “What Is Love” while dressed as a milkshake.
That same year, Bell began his career. He knocked out fellow All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson in the fifth round of an exhibition match.
A month later he took on former UFC middleweight Uriah Hall, but lost by unanimous decision.
In 2023, he won a unanimous decision over Youtuber JMX.
Now it seems all of this hasn’t been enough to keep Bell from feeling the itch to play football.
On his Instagram story on February 3 , Bell revealed that he wants to return to the NFL and hinted that he wants to make that return with the Steelers.
“I won’t start training until like March,” Bell said, via Steelers Depot’s Alex Kozora. “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. And I will only come back for that one team. You all know who iti is. I don’t have to say no team. You all know who it is.”
What Does Bell Have Left in the Tank?
It has been a long time since we’ve seen Bell at his best.
2017 was the last season where he ran for more than 1000 yards.
After that, he averaged 3.2 yards per carry with the Jets in 2019.
He didn’t even make it through the second season of a four-year contract in New York before the team cut him.
His numbers crept back up a bit after joining the Chiefs. He averaged 4 yards per carry in Kansas City, but only carried the ball 63 times.
In 2021, he split time with the Ravens and Buccaneers. Between those two stops he averaged just 2.6 yards per carry.
It has now been more than two years since he has played in an NFL game.
At just 31 years old maybe Bell can still play. Raheem Mostert just had the best year of his career at 31.
Cordarrelle Patterson and Latavius Murray were drafted the same year as Bell and are still getting carries.
He’ll just need to show a lot more than he did in his last few stops if he’s going to convince a team to sign him.
A Return to the Steelers
When Bell was a member of the Steelers, he was one of the NFL’s best running backs.
In five seasons with the team he was named an All-Pro three times, including one First Team nod.
The two seasons he didn’t earn an All-Pro spot were his rookie season and and a year where he was limited to 6 games because of a torn ACL.
Unfortunately, things didn’t end particularly well in Pittsburgh.
During the 2018 offseason, the Steelers placed the franchise tag on Bell for the second consecutive year.
Bell wanted a long-term deal and when the two sides couldn’t come to terms, he sat out the entire 2018 season. The following year he left and joined the Jets.
Now he wants to return, but the Steelers don’t really need a running back.
Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren already have the top two spots on the roster locked up and bringing him in as the third stringer doesn’t make a ton of sense when that spot could go to a young player with more upside.
Maybe Bell can get those preseason snaps he has talked about in the past just to be able to finish his career in Pittsburgh, but it’s very unlikely he’ll suit up for them in a regular season game.
