Whenever a big-name player is on the trade block, or even released, and available to sign with any team, almost always the Patriots get brought up.
And for good reason.
Bill Belichick isn’t afraid to make a trade, and he isn’t afraid to take a chance on a player as long he has talent and he feels he can help the Patriots win. The best example of this was Antonio Brown last year. Following Belichick adding Brown last September after all his issues with the Raiders, nothing can be totally ruled out when it comes to a high-profile player potentially joining the Patriots.
This brings us to this week and running back Le’Veon Bell, who was released by the Jets Tuesday night and is now a free agent.
While Belichick clearly loves Bell as a player — remember back in 2016 when he wouldn’t even let a reporter finish a question about him and he said, “Oh my God” before going on to praise him as a player — it just doesn’t seem like a fit for the Patriots at the moment.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, before releasing Bell the Jets discussed a trade involving the veteran with a few teams, including the Patriots, but this feels more of the Jets calling the Patriots knowing Belichick’s track record than the other way around.
So, why isn’t a fit, even potentially at the veteran-minimum? There are a few reasons.
The Patriots already have one of the deepest running backs room in football, so it’s not like they need another body at the position. Even with Sony Michel on injured reserve, there’s Rex Burkhead, James White, Damien Harris and J.J. Taylor. Before Michel was placed on IR there was discussion wondering which one of these players would be the odd-man out, and now we’re going to add another dynamic player to the mix?
And with Michel, Harris and Taylor being young backs, the team needs to try and give them more opportunities to see what they have, not less. Adding Bell would obviously take away reps from them and that isn’t helping the position for the long-term.
Sure, Bell could be signed for multiple years, but at 28 years old, there are signs his best football may be behind him. After averaging over four yards a carry in his final four years in Pittsburgh, with the Jets he averaged 3.2 last year and totaled just 74 yards in two games this season. The shelf life on running backs is getting shorter and shorter by the year, and Bell is turning into a prime example.
Another thing to consider is how would Bell mesh with Cam Newton?
Newton is trying to get his career back on track, so could the Patriots have two players on offense attempting to do the same thing? Both players are not afraid to speak their minds, which could create some dysfunction within the team.
What if in one game Newton totaled 15 carries and Bell only had 10? What if of those 15 carries, half were read options and Newton just didn’t flip the ball to Bell? Doesn’t it feel like that could get messy?
Or what if Bell carried the ball 25 times in a game and Newton was just a passenger throwing the ball 15-20 times and not really being a running threat? Newton probably wouldn’t take too kindly to that, either.
Even though Belichick has had tremendous praise of Bell in the past, it just doesn’t seem like the two joining forces is in the cards.