Le’Veon Bell Toys With a Return to Pittsburgh Steelers

Getty Le'Veon Bell in 2017 with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Le’Veon Bell’s exit from the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2018 was a tumultuous one — with a contract dispute that left him missing an entire season before moving on to play with five other teams in three years.

Now, at age 31, he said he’s considering a return to Pittsburgh.

Over a 90-minute on the “Steel Here” podcast, Bell opened up like he never had before, saying he still has it and would love an opportunity to shine.

“We’ll see what I do with Pittsburgh. I might as well come back for a preseason game just to show people I got juice,” Bell said on the May 26 episode of the podcast. “It’s literally just to show y’all, like, bro, I’m better than I was in 2016.”

That’s a bold statement, considering he put up 1,884 all-purpose yards and nine touchdowns that season. But Bell said he’s in the best physical shape ever, crediting his new boxing career. He played football at 225 but is now down to a 205 fighting weight.

“I would be so blazing if I was to hit the field right now… I might have to hit up Coach T or something,” he said, referring to Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.

If he were to come back to the NFL — be it with Pittsburgh or another team — he has one condition: be the featured back. “I wouldn’t want to come back unless I’m the guy. Because I know I can be the guy, and I know like where I’m at physically. I watch guys, I train with guys that’s 24, 25, 23 years old, and yeah, they’re still not up to my speed because I’m just in the best physical form that I’ve ever been in before I was 24, 25.”

Bell may be in the “best physical shape” he’s ever been in, but if he couldn’t do it with the Jets, Chiefs, Ravens and Bucs, it’s difficult to imagine he can do it now.

Le’Veon Bell Left the Pittsburgh Steelers on Bad Terms & Was Never the Same

After five successful seasons, three of which yielded All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors, Bell felt he was worthy of a historic contract — historic because he wanted to be paid for his dual-threat talents as a running back and wide receiver.

The Steelers agreed, offering him $70 million over five years ($14 million a year and $33 million guaranteed) to make him the highest-paid back in the league. Then he turned it down, saying that he’d play for $17 million and nothing less, and he demanded more guaranteed money over the life of the contract.

Ultimately, Pittsburgh tagged him for the second-consecutive season in 2018, which would’ve paid him 120% of his 2017 salary, roughly $14.5 million. He refused to sign and sat out the entire season, never to suit up in a Steelers uniform again.

(Interesting side note: The Steelers rewarded Jerome Bettis with a $14 million contract two decades earlier in 1997. Since then, the NFL has minimized how they view running backs.)

Like many players before him, the grass wasn’t greener on the other side. He didn’t put up monster numbers as in the Black and Gold with the other teams he bounced around. After he left, Bell was with four teams in three seasons: New York Jets (twice), Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens and Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In three seasons, he registered 1,848 total yards and nine scores. Defenses just didn’t fear him as they once did, especially after he left the Jets, where his best season produced 863 rushing yards, 500 receiving and four total touchdowns.

Le’Veon Bell Wants to Retire With the Pittsburgh Steelers

Two seasons removed from the last time he set foot on an NFL field, Le’Veon Bell never officially retired. When he does, though, he said he wanted it to be with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“I never really officially retired,” said Bell. “I feel like the day I do retire, it’s gonna be with Pittsburgh. But before I do that, hey bro, lemme get a couple carries in the preseason so I can show y’all something.”

When Bell does retire, it wouldn’t make sense to go out with any team other than the Steelers. That’s where he was drafted and displayed Hall of Fame-caliber talent.

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

While Bell and the Steelers parted on bad terms, there’s no question the team would be open to his request. And deservedly so. Along with Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown, he was one of the team’s best players of the 2010s and was a critical piece to their three AFC North division titles.