Adam Gase doesn’t think Le’Veon Bell will have revenge on his mind when Kansas City hosts the Jets on Sunday.
Bell will get to see his former team in only his second game as a Chief. He made his debut last week against Denver. While many believe that Bell will have a little extra motivation playing Gase and the Jets, the head coach thinks the running back will treat it like any other game.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that he’s going to be worried about just winning a game, period,” Gase said, per ESPN’s Rich Cimini. “That’s what most players are worried about. They’re worried about, ‘Hey, what do I have to do this week to help my team win?’ So, I’m sure that’s what he’s going to be worried about doing. We’ve got a lot of guys to worry about on that side of the ball against them.”
Obviously, Bell’s main focus is on winning the game, but it wouldn’t be a shock to most if he wants to stick it to the Jets for releasing him. Bell’s tenure with the Jets didn’t go according to plan and he was rarely happy with the way in which Gase used him.
In 17 games with the Jets, Bell had 863 rushing yards, 500 receiving yards and four total touchdowns. It was well under Bell’s usual numbers that he put up with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Out of the five seasons Bell was in Pittsburgh, he had three 1,000+-yard seasons.
It was reported that Gase never wanted Bell in the first place. Mike Maccagnan signed Bell in 2019 to a four-year deal worth $52.5 million. Maccagnan was fired soon after, and Gase then failed to use Bell properly in his offense. A few weeks backs, Bell liked some tweets about not being a big enough factor in the passing game and about being traded. He was released a few days later.
Now Bell will get his shot on Sunday to make the Jets look silly for releasing him — and pick up a win, something his old team has yet to do.