Le'Veon Bell was a fan favorite in Pittsburgh this time four years ago when Bell was fresh off of an All-Pro season with the Steelers. Bell is now a member of the New York Jets after an unceremonious end to his time with the Steelers that included sitting out the entire 2018 season over a contract dispute. During a recent interview with ESPN's Dianna Russini, Bell discussed his current feelings with regard to the Steelers, the team he spent five seasons with before departing in March via free agency.
"I have no resentment to them," said Bell, who set a Steelers franchise records for the most rushing yards in a regular season and postseason game. "They were making a business decision, and so was I. So at the end of the day, there's no hard feelings towards that organization or anything. There's still a lot of players [on the Steelers] that I still talk to. James Conner is still one of my closest guys; I talk to like, on a daily basis. It just didn't work. It was a relationship that didn't work. It worked for a certain extent of time, then we broke up. They're happy where they are, and I'm happy where I am, and that's it."
Last offseason, Bell reportedly turned down Pittsburgh's reported five-year, $70 million offer that included $33 million guaranteed in the first three years of the deal. Bell instead signed a four-year, $52.5 million contract that included $35 million guaranteed. Despite not receiving the same type of contract fellow running back Ezekiel Elliott received from the Cowboys, Bell says he doesn't regret sitting out the 2018 season -- a decision that cost him $14.5 million (had he played under the franchise tag) last season.
"It was one of the toughest decisions of my life just because of the fact that I've been playing football since I was four or five-years-old, each and every year leading up to when I was 25," Bell said of his decision to sit out the 2018 season. "You turn 26 and you gotta sit out a year, it's like, 'Dang, what am I gonna do now?' That was the hardest seven months of my life not really playing football watching it as a fan. And I learned a lot watching the game of football and actually sitting out from it, because I had more time to really watch players and see what they were good at, see what players were bad at, and try to put (certain things) in my game."
Bell was also asked about Antonio Brown, his teammate in Pittsburgh from 2013-17. Brown, following an ugly divorce from the Steelers, was granted his release out of Oakland before joining the Patriots just before the start of the regular season. Brown is now dealing with a sexual assault lawsuit that overshadowed his solid debut with New England.
"Sometimes, it's kinda hard to overcome when a lot of negative things are happening or when people are saying a lot of negative things about you," Bell said of Brown. "It's like a snowball effect. It happened to me when I had my suspension. I don't ever wanna get too low on myself. I hope Antonio's doing the same thing. If I had to give him advice, that's what I'd give him.
"If you know AB personally, you'll know that he's like, a good person," Bell continued. "He's not really trying to harm anybody. Maybe there's something he wants and he's trying to achieve it. He might go a different way about it than other people would but, it is what it is."
Bell did handle things differently with regard to how he landed on his new team. While his way wasn't necessarily easy, Bell ultimately landed with the Jets, has no remaining issues with his former team and is looking forward to the future. Bell looked good in his Jets debut, amassing 93 all-purpose yards and a touchdown.
"All Saturday night, it was hard for me to sleep," Bell said about the night before New York's season-opener. "When I was warming up I felt like a rookie all over again but a veteran at the same time if that makes sense. Coach Gase, he told me that I was getting the ball [on the first play] so that I could get it out of the way, so once I actually got the ball and I got tackled, it just seemed like everything kinda snapped back into, 'Oh, OK, I'm back. This feels normal again.'
"I didn't feel rust, even though, as time goes on, I'll look back, maybe in Week 8, I'll look back at Week 1 and be like 'Maybe I was a little rusty then.' But I didn't feel rusty. I felt good. It felt like football."
