Le’Veon Bell Wants To Retire As A Steeler

Running back Le’Veon Bell admits he shouldn’t have left the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2019, and it’s easy to see why. 

Le’Veon Bell had two All-Pro seasons and reached three Pro Bowls with the Steelers from 2013 – 2017. In total, he generated 5,336 rushing yards, 35 touchdowns and had three 75+ catch seasons.

The relationship between the Steelers and Le’Veon Bell began to break down when they franchise tagged him for the second year in a row in 2018. He sat out the entire season and never played for Pittsburgh again.

Want $250 to bet on NFL futures?

Sign up here!

Bell has never recaptured the same form since in spite of landing with some big teams like the Chiefs and the Bucs. In the three years after leaving the Steelers, Bell started 19 of 34 games played with 1,218 rushing yards and seven scores.

“Yeah, it was a little petty, the little guarantee stuff,” Bell said. “I’m thinking like, damn, could I have really just ate it? Yeah, I probably could’ve. Probably could’ve really ate it.

“We kept going back and forth,” he said. “It literally was the guarantee. They weren’t budging off of it and I wasn’t budging off of it. I didn’t want to leave Pittsburgh. At the end of the day, that’s where I was at. That’s where I got drafted at. Especially after going to different teams and seeing how it is, when a team has their guy, you’re their guy. I was Pittsburgh’s guy.”

Read: Elijah Moore To Prove Doubters Wrong ‘In Due Time’

“I never officially retired,” Bell said. “The day when I do retire, it’s gonna be with Pittsburgh. Like, I’m trying to retire with Pittsburgh. But before I do that, I might be like, ‘Hey, let me get a couple carries in the preseason so I can show you all something.’

“With the Steelers, I would do the little preseason, like alright, boom boom, but I would not do that anywhere else. Because I don’t even think about playing, it literally would only be in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is where I’ll retire, you know what I’m saying, that’s just it. Because I already been other places. It’s not Pittsburgh.”