The hope Le’Veon Bell might join Patrick Mahomes and the high-powered Kansas City Chiefs offense seems like a dead one right now.
The Kansas City Chiefs featured one of the top offenses in the NFL in 2018 despite losing their top running back in Kareem Hunt. While it might have been nice to replace Hunt with Le’Veon Bell in 2019, that doesn’t seem likely.
Arrowhead Addicts own Matt Conner postulated that the Chiefs couldn’t afford Bell, and it appears the Chiefs are in agreement.
According to FanSided’s Matt Verderame, it is his understanding the Chiefs have “absolutely no interest” in the former Steeler.
My strong, strong understanding is that the #Chiefs have absolutely no interest in signing Le'Veon Bell. That's not going to happen.
— Matt Verderame (@MattVerderame) March 1, 2019
The Chiefs seem content with using Damien Williams as their featured back going into next season. Hunt was released right before the Chiefs’ twelfth game of the season. It took Kansas City a little while to figure out how to use Williams, but he ended up gaining 256 yards on the ground and notched 160 receiving yards for the season. He added 250 total yards in the postseason.
Bell, on the other hand, sat out the year rather than play under the franchise tag in Pittsburgh. At just 27, Bell probably has good years in front of him after compiling 5,336 rushing yards and 2,660 receiving yards in five seasons with the Steelers.
Imagining Bell in an offense that already features the 2018 NFL MVP in Mahomes and exciting players like Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce is enough to make any fan of high-octane offenses salivate. Still, you can’t blame the Chiefs for settling for other options at running back when Bell’s salary demands are bound to be high.
There is no question Bell is an extremely talented player but no one knows how sitting out 2018 will affect his conditioning. On one hand, he eliminated that year of wear and tear but may have also put himself at a higher risk of injury. Plus, his sitting out the entire year may take the polish off his image in the eyes of general managers and head coaches around the league.
Yes, it would have been nice to see someone of Bell’s skill level lining up in the same backfield as Mahones, but the Chiefs need money to improve their defense. As good as they were on offense, they were just as bad on defense. Only the Bengals gave up more yards than the Chiefs.
It probably makes sense for the Chiefs to address other needs at this time rather than running back. They can always target a ball carrier in the upcoming draft. The Chiefs may not have some like Le’Veon Bell but they still have plenty of weapons on offense.