Philadelphia Eagles: Le’Veon Bell trade would be unwise

The Philadelphia Eagles would be wise not to trade for the Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro running back Le’Veon Bell.

The Philadelphia Eagles are known for their aggressiveness when it comes to making trades and improving their roster. So, with the news the Pittsburgh Steelers are actively shopping All-Pro running back Le’Veon Bell for a second round pick and a player, it makes sense to hear the Eagles mentioned as a potential trading partner.

Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported that the Eagles are a team with interest in trading for the talented running back. Just looking at the trade from the surface, it would make sense for the Eagles.

They have a running back by committee and a lot of moving parts in the backfield, but adding Bell would give quarterback Carson Wentz an every down back to take some of the load of winning football games off of his back.

Eagles running back Jay Ajayi is a free agent after this season and paying Bell would be better than Ajayi. Also, just to state the obvious, Bell is one of the best players in the NFL, so adding him would obviously be solid.

It all sounds good on the surface, but when you dig deeper into the idea of the Eagles adding Bell, you start to see why the Eagles should not trade for him.

MUST READ: NFL picks against the spread for Week 4

Bell is talented, there is no denying that. But there is also no denying that off the field, there are a lot of red flags. For starters, Bell has been suspended two times by the NFL. He is one more strike away from potentially missing a whole season. Add in the fact that he has missed some games with injury as well, you see that Bell has missed 18 games (not including this entire season).

So a big question is, can you count on him? He has only started all 16 games just once in his career.

Missing that many games, you would think he does not have much mileage, but that is not the case. Bell has 1,541 touches in the 62 regular season games he has played in, or almost 25 per game. He also had 760 touches in college, so he has 2,301 touches, not counting the 94 he has added from the playoffs. In total, he has 2,395 touches since 2010. He may only be 25, but his usage show that sometimes age is just a number.

Missing games and heavy usage highlight a big part of why Bell is a not a guy the Eagles should trade for, but the biggest reason was the Steelers offensive linemen who decided to comment on Bell’s absence with the team. Seeing the linemen call out their running back was telling. Clearly they were fed up with Bell’s antics and “me not we” mentality. If his own offensive line doesn’t stand up for him, there is something behind the scenes that isn’t right.

Philadelphia won the Super Bowl last season with an unmatched culture. I have never seen a bunch of highly paid athletes in an individualized world come together so well for one goal: to win the Super Bowl. There was no player bigger than the team last season and that is a big reason the Eagles won it all. Adding Bell to the mix goes directly against that culture and in my opinion, could end up hurting way more than it helps.

Adding the best running back in the NFL may sound good on the surface, but when you scratch beneath the surface the truth shows that the Eagles should not trade for Bell.