The KC Chiefs were right about Le’Veon Bell

Last year, during the NFL postseason, Le’Veon Bell had a clear lane ahead of him, the exact sort of scenario for which he was signed by the K.C. Chiefs at midseason. It was the ideal setup for the recently maligned veteran, a chance on the NFL’s biggest stage in front of primetime cameras to show what he can still do before entering another chance for a free agent payday.

Confusingly, the Chiefs never even let him onto the field.

It turns out the Chiefs were onto something when they refused to play Bell as expected. Even now, with Bell back in free agency, the former Steelers star has sat and waited for someone—anyone!—to offer him an opportunity. On Tuesday, he finally latched on with the Baltimore Ravens, yet even that was a humble position on the team’s practice squad.

That’s a fall far from grace for Bell.

It seems the Chiefs were right to leave Le’veon Bell on the sideline.

When Clyde Edwards-Helaire was forced to miss significant reps in the postseason due to lingering injuries to both his hip and ankle last postseason, the Chiefs turned to their RB2 and that man was Darrel Williams. Even with a healthy Bell on the sideline, a two-time first-team All-Pro who was arguably the best running back in the NFL only a few years ago, the Chiefs turned to Williams to start the game and carry the load in their opening postseason win over the Cleveland Browns.

In the divisional round win over Cleveland, Williams would earn 13 carries for 78 rushing yards and caught all 4 of his targets for another 16. Bell on the other hand caught none of his three targets and had 2 rushes for 6 yards as the sum total of his added production.

From there, Bell’s usage only plummeted as the Chiefs kept him inactive in the very next game, a win over the Buffalo Bills, before refusing to play him despite being active in the Super Bowl loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

At the time, it was a bit of a head-scratching turn given the hopes surrounding Bell’s potential impact when he first signed with the Chiefs. It’s not that Chiefs Kingdom was holding onto memories of 2016. It’s just that you’d think Bell would have been capable of playing a valuable backup role given the talents he’d once displayed—that some juice was left in the tank.

When it mattered most, the Chiefs made it clear that they did not believe that Bell had anything left. Before last year, Bell could point to Adam Gase as head coach and the Jets franchise in general and make us all believers that it was the team’s fault that he put up such anemic averages compared to career norms. After the 2020 season, Bell is stuck waiting on a practice squad because he’s been found out.

This all sounds like significant shade on Bell, but it’s really not intended to be. The reality is that nearly every NFL player will hit this same sort of wall and experience the letdown of physically being unable to play the game at the desired (and expected) level as years past. For Bell, instead it’s an interesting turn for a player who was an exciting signing even less than a year ago.

Perhaps Bell can somehow overcome the odds to make an impact offensively for the Ravens despite his current role apart from the active roster. If so, it will be a memorable story and another surprising turn from a mercurial player who has always charted his own course. However, for now, it looks as if the Chiefs were right to leave Bell on the sideline even when it seemed like a questionable thing to do.