I am tired of writing the old adage, "Leave it to the New York Jets," but seriously, leave it to the New York Jets. Because only they could sign a player as talented as Le'Veon Bell -- after he missed an entire year of football in 2018, pay him $52 million over four years, and not even a year and a half into the contract, cut him, claiming nobody wants him.
The Jets cut Bell on Tuesday night as the Buffalo Bills were getting shellacked on national television by the Tennessee Titans 42-16. The reason's behind the move are manifold, but the latest has to do with tweets Bell liked that criticized head coach Adam Gase's use of Bell during the Jets 30-10 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
Bell touched the ball only once on Sunday. Gase has promised numerous times to get Bell involved in the offense, and it never transpired on the field.
According to reports Bell and his representation, met with Gase and Douglas to discuss a potential trade of Bell with the deadline fast approaching November 3. According to Rich Cimini of ESPN, the Jets contacted every team, but found the contract difficult to move. The Jets were willing to eat $6 million of his remaining salary, but the big concern for the Jets was Bell's $8 million injury guarantee in 2021. Nobody wanted to take that risk on their books.
So in the end the Jets cut Bell. They didn't even get a seventh round pick for him. They got nothing, except another black eye.
The fact is Gase never wanted Bell here. He was upset at then GM Mike Maccagnan for signing Bell in the spring of 2019, and expressed as much. Both Bell and Gase never really got along that well. Last year Bell went bowling while he was away from the team because he was diagnosed with the flu. That upset Gase greatly.
When Bell came to camp this year, promising to be a good solider, Gase turned around and brought in Frank Gore, and later, Bell got into a fight with Gase over a hamstring injury during an intrasquad scrimmage.
Every week Gase would promise to feed Bell the ball more, and it never happened. At the end of the day, Bell ran for only 873 yards and three touchdowns in his entire Jets career. It was a doomed marriage, with plenty of blame to go around.
On the surface this looks like another huge power play by Gase, and once again he had General Manager Joe Douglas by his side in executing the initiative. Bell is now the second high profile player to leave the Jets because of a dispute with the head coach. The other being Jamal Adams who called both Gase and Douglas liars for not coming through on a contract extension. When Adams' complaints got louder and louder in the media, Gase and Douglas pulled the plug and traded him to Seattle.
They have now done the same to Bell.
Fall in line is the edict from Gase and Douglas or else. How can owners Christopher and Woody Johnson sit there and think that this is good for the organization? How could they sit there and think both Gase and Douglas know what they are doing?
The Jets will use the excuse that they are building a culture, ridding themselves of Mike Maccagnan's players in order to build for the future, but the facts are all Gase and Douglas are doing is building a culture of distrust and chaos.
How is this all beneficial to the young players on the team? How is this beneficial to Sam Darnold, whom, if you believe the rumors, could be on his way out of New York by next season?
While Bell was no angle in New York, and he is certainly responsible for his crude and at times devisive behavior while he was here, there is no excusing the fact that Gase and Douglas are running a machiavellian ship to nowhere-sville.
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