Over the course of five seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, running back Le’Veon Bell established himself as one of the very best at his position in the league. In 62 games in the Steel City, Bell ran the ball 1,229 times for 5,336 yards and 35 touchdowns. He also chipped in 312 receptions for 2,660 yards and an additional 7 touchdowns. Bell was a three-time All-Pro, and the Steelers went 53-27 in the five seasons that Bell was their starting running back.
Bell sat out the 2018 season due to a contract dispute with the Steelers, and never wore a Pittsburgh uniform again. He’s since expressed regret for sitting out and for not remaining with the Steelers for the duration of his career. And now, Le’Veon Bell took to Snapchat to express a desire to make a comeback to the NFL and to the Steel City.
“I won’t start training until like March,” Bell said in one of a series of stories posted to Snapchat, per Alex Kozora of Steelers Depot. “And I’m gonna be honest with myself. I gotta go out there and be like, I’m gonna put my foot in the ground. Do I feel it? Am I hurting? Can I go out there and really play again?”
This is the part where I should mention that Le’Veon Bell is two days older than I am. As you’d probably be able tell in the photo of me at the bottom of this piece, I am not necessarily a young man, and if I had an athletic prime, I assure you that it came many, many years ago. But with that said, I wasn’t ever an elite level professional athlete, and as recently as 2021, Le’Veon Bell was still playing in the NFL. However, even though Bell claims that his body is “functionally stronger than ever,” — likely due to the training he did in order to knock Adrian Peterson out cold in a boxing exhibition — he also added that it’s been over a year since he’s ran at a full sprint. Even I’ve ran at a full sprint in the last year. But hey, who the hell am I to tell Le’Veon Bell or anyone else that they can’t pursue whatever they set their mind to?
