When Kansas City Chiefs coordinators spoke to the media on Friday, new RB Le’Veon Bell, who agreed to terms with the team on Thursday, was a much-discussed topic. While offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy deferred to Andy Reid and Brett Veach to focus on the Buffalo Bills game, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo chimed in on the addition of Bell.
Spagnuolo won’t have anything to do with coaching Bell in Kansas City, but he’s had to gameplan for Bell a number of times during his career as the defensive coordinator with the New York Giants. Spags’ praise for the caliber of the player was effusive.
“Look, it’s great to always accumulate good football players and I’ve got a lot of respect for Le’Veon Bell,” Spagnuolo said. “I mean, I haven’t seen him or gone against him in a long time, but I just remember him [being] a headache. I’ll tell you, I mean, he was so challenging to stop in that, what we call ‘dual play’ that the Pittsburgh Steelers ran. Where he would just sit back there and pick and weave. And no matter what you did it felt like you couldn’t stop him for less than 6-7 yards. So a lot of respect for him. [He’s] a good football player and I’m sure our offensive guys over here will be really happy to have him.”
The last time Spagnuolo’s defense went against Bell was in 2016 when he was the defensive coordinator for the Giants. Spags had one of the best defensive units in the league, ranking highly in a number of defensive categories by seasons end. They allowed the third-fewest rushing yards in the NFL that season. Bell still rushed for 118 yards and caught six passes for 64 yards on the day. Spags’ defense allowed the third-most rushing yards of their entire season during that game and all at the hands of Bell.
Spagnuolo is probably thankful that he won’t need to gameplan for Bell again. Instead, Bell will be challenging his defense during practice, which should only make them a better unit in the long run.
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