- Le’Veon Bell said in an Instagram post that he’d retire before playing for Andy Reid again.
- Bell signed with the Chiefs midway through the 2020 NFL season.
- Bell later apologized for airing his opinion on social media but didn’t backtrack on his initial comment.
It wouldn’t be the NFL offseason without a bumper crop of social media controversies and there was a good one over the weekend. This time it was free agent running back Le’Veon Bell causing the dust up which dominated the NFL media cycle for 48 hours or so in lieu of other news.
Oddly enough, the situation started on an Instagram post by RapTV reporting on a diner with more money than culinary taste spending over $700 at McDonald’s. Bell commented on the post and enjoyed some back and forth with other commenters. One suggested that Bell re-up with the Kansas City Chiefs–Bell had signed with KC midway through the 2020 NFL season. It doesn’t sound like Bell enjoyed his time in flyover country America’s heartland. More specifically, Bell didn’t enjoy playing for Andy Reid–or at least that’s what one would surmise from this comment:
“I’ll never play for Andy Reid again… I’d retire first.”
Bell’s beef with Reid is unclear. He was released by the New York Jets last year and signed on with the Chiefs in Week 6. He didn’t see much action, appearing in 9 games and starting twice. He was inactive for the AFC Championship game and did not play in KC’s Super Bowl loss to Tampa Bay.
Suffice to say that Bell isn’t exactly a ‘hot commodity’ at the moment. After being released by the Jets he blamed his decline in New York on play calling. His quip on Andy Reid won’t help things. Even so, Bell is acting like there’s a ‘sellers market’ for his services:
“I’ll sign somewhere when I’m ready. Ain’t no more finessing me with lies and s— just to get me to sign with their team…no more rushed decisions on my end, period.”
Less than 24 hours after his Reid comments were first reported it looks as if Bell was trying to do some ‘damage control’ though it isn’t clear if he accomplished that. In fact, he doubled down on his tirade:
“I said what I said & I don’t regret at all what I said…for those who have a PERSONAL PROBLEM with me because of what I SAID, that’s fine…you have your right! just understand I ALSO have MY RIGHT for how I feel about MY PERSONAL problem with dude because of what HE SAID to me.”
The only thing approximating an apology came via an uncharacteristic bit of self awareness for Bell. He did admit that he should have ‘kept his mouth shut’ on social media:
“I’ll admit that’s somethin I could’ve and should’ve kept to myself & I apologize about that and that only… but I don’t regret what I said, because that’s how I feel…”
“I’m not about to get all into depth on why I feel the way I do, but I have my right to feel the way I feel…the ONLY thing I would change is commenting how i really felt on social media…”
It’ll be interesting to see where–if anywhere–Bell ends up playing this year. He’s got a dangerous dynamic going on in which his perception of his value to a team simply doesn’t have any basis in reality.
