Ringing the Bell, Jets Sign Le'Veon Bell Ending Wild Standoff

Well, well, well that last post I did on the Jets offseason didn't age well. ;-)

Welcome to the fast and furious world of the NFL Free Agent Frenzy.

The Jets got their man. New York has signed former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell to a four year, $52 million contract with $35 million guaranteed. Incentives could push the deal over $61 million.

The singing of Bell ends a ton of drama surrounding his potential signing in Green and White. Earlier Tuesday, it appeared the Jets would be on the outside looking in at the Bell sweepstakes with teams like the Raiders and Ravens heavily rumored to be involved for Bell's services.

It got to the point Tuesday that the Jets set an unspecific deadline for Bell to notify them of his decision, making it looking it even more likely that this moment wouldn't have come to pass. But it has.

After forgoing $14 million by sitting out for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Bell now heads to the biggest pressure cooker in sports, New York City. There are no more excuses. Bell must become for this franchise what Curtis Martin and Freeman McNeil were to the Jets before him.

From 2013-2017, Bell averaged 128.9 yards per game, which was clearly the best of any back in the NFL over his first five seasons. In addition Bell has ran for over 1200 yards in three of his five seasons in the NFL, and is an adept pass catcher, average about 8.5 yards per catch. Clearly this is a player that is going to become a huge weapon for quarterback Sam Darnold. The potential is beyond appealing.

The Jets have desperately needed a big time running back out of the backfield. Whether it be Isaiah Crowell, Bilal Powell, Matt Forte, Chris Johnson, and Chris Ivory, none of them combined for the kind of explosiveness that Bell can provide all by himself. The Jets really haven't had a true back since Martin retired, and one could even argue the Jets haven't been a good running team since the days of Thomas Jones and Shonn Greene.

So while it was wild and wholly, give Mike Maccagnan some credit. Inspite of how badly things looked Tuesday night, he stuck to his guns and got his guy.