Le’Veon Bell is prepared to be booed at a home game, but it won’t be by his own fans.
Bell is facing the Pittsburgh Steelers for the first team since the two sides underwent a messy divorce. Considering the manner in which he left the organization, New York’s star running back isn’t anticipating cheers from the many Steelers fans that figure to be at MetLife Stadium this weekend.
“It’s going to be packed with Steeler fans,” Bell said on Thursday. “When we played the Raiders, there were a lot of Raider fans and it was loud. I think it’ll be the same as that, if not more. Steeler fans travel well. I definitely know that.
“It’ll probably be 50-50. I think half will be happy to see me and still love me, and half that hates me, despises me. It is what it is. I’m going to show love, regardless. Anybody who’s wearing my jersey, I’ll go sign it. It’s going to be fun.”
This game will definitely have a little extra juice to it, even if Bell is downplaying it. While Pittsburgh is the team that took a chance on Bell coming out of Michigan State and helped develop him into an All-Pro running back, they refused to make him the highest-paid rusher in the NFL.
Playing on the franchise tag in 2017, Bell had a league-high 321 carries for 1,291 yards, as well as 85 catches for 655 yards. The following year, Bell refused to sign the franchise tag placed upon him by Pittsburgh, resulting in him sitting out the entire season.
Still, Bell insists there are no bitter feelings, despite him sitting out in 2018.
“No, last year was last year and two years ago was two years ago,” he said. “I’m over it now. I’m past it. I’m here. I’m with the New York Jets, and I’m happy.”
Bell is happy despite his worst statistical season to date. Coming off his best game of the season in which he ran for a season-high 87 yards on the ground, Bell is hoping he can parlay last week’s success into more production against his former team.
“I’m happy where I’m at,” he said. “The way things are going, obviously it’s not ideal with the way our record is. But like I said in Week 2, Week 3, this is kind of like rebuilding. I want to be a part of it and see it grow.”