As they did in the Leonard Williams trade last season, the Jets were willing to eat money in a potential Le’Veon Bell trade. Even with that, opposing teams shied away from making a deal with Gang Green because of Bell’s injury guarantee for the 2021 season, according to ESPN’s Rich Cimini.
Bell was cut on Tuesday night.
The Jets tried desperately to trade Bell this week after his frustrations reached a boiling following New York’s 30-10 loss to Arizona in Week 5. Bell returned to the lineup after missing three games with a hamstring injury. He had 13 carries for 60 yards, but just one catch on one target in the passing game. That didn’t sit well with him.
Bell refused to speak with the media after the conclusion of Sunday’s game. Instead, he went on Twitter and liked tweets that suggested he was being used improperly and that the Jets should trade him.
While Joe Douglas made his best last-ditch efforts to trade the former All-Pro back, Cimini reports that the biggest deterrent for teams was Bell’s $8 million injury guarantee in 2021, not his remaining $6 million 2020 base salary.
Bell has clearly lost a step and has dealt with various lower-body injuries since signing with the Jets in 2019. It’s understandable why a team wouldn’t want to trade an asset for such a risk. The Jets likely would have had to attach a draft pick, much akin to the Texans shipping Brock Osweiler and his $16 million guaranteed salary with a second-round pick to the Browns in 2017.
Given how poorly structured the Jets roster is, there was no way Douglas was going to part with a valuable asset. The Jets found no takers for Bell, so they eventually opted to release him on Tuesday. His release leaves behind $15 million in dead cap for the 2020 season and another $4 million in 2021, per Spotrac.
Bell will now likely sign with a contender who won’t have to worry about an injury guarantee next season.