Le’Veon Bell was nearly ready to walk away from football before the Bucs called him this week.
After bouncing around from team to team over the last two seasons, Bell’s career appeared over after being waived by the Ravens earlier this year. He even started focusing on his next career — boxing — until Tampa called.
“Yeah, I was going to be done,” Bell told reporters on Wednesday. “I was at the point where I wasn’t really going to play football. I was going to focus on boxing. Once you get that phone call — it was like, ‘Oh yes, this is it.’”
The Bucs needed Bell after Leonard Fournette injured his hamstring and will miss the remainder of the regular season.
The 29-year-old now has a chance to win a Super Bowl by teaming up with Tom Brady and his former teammate with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Antonio Brown.
“This was like literally the only spot that I felt like made me want to play football and go out there and be excited to play,” he said. “This was like literally the only place that could have called me and got me to really go play. I was gonna start boxing and focusing on boxing.”
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Bell, never shy to express himself on social media, had called out Youtube star/boxer Jake Paul after he defeated Tyron Woodley in a knockout in Tampa on Saturday.
It appeared as if Bell was angling for a future fight with Paul, but for now will have to wait as he gives it one more go in the NFL.
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