5 NFL players under pressure to step up in 2019 season
Le’Veon Bell
Le’Veon Bell was the name frequently talked about during the 2018 NFL season — and he wasn’t even playing. He sat out last year after failing to come to an agreement on a contract with the Steelers after they placed the franchise tag on him, much to his displeasure.
After a year of sitting out, Bell signed a four-year, $52 million deal with the New York Jets this offseason. This is a lot of money going to a player who hasn’t played football in a year. However, in Bell’s case, the talent and his previous season’s stats and highlights tell us why the Jets gave Bell the bag of money.
Bell is everything a coach could want in a running back. He has a nice blend of power and finesse, patience and explosiveness, he can even line up out wide as a receiver if he chooses to. His ability to do so much for an offense is what makes him one of the NFL’s top players. Despite his good on-field play, Bell’s off the field endeavors are less than great.
In the age of social media, Bell is quite often tweeting about how he needs to stick to his “formula” of not practicing and waiting to practice until “it’s time to play football”. This formula of his has him missing the Jets’ OTAs. Now, these workouts are completely voluntary, but Bell should be taking this opportunity to gain chemistry with teammates, learn the offense and get in football shape.
Bell surely has pressure to perform this season. Getting a contract like that after voluntarily sitting out a season, you best believe there is pressure. He has to prove to the Jets that he is worth the money they just paid him ($27 million is guaranteed in his contract). He also must help relieve some pressure off of second-year quarterback Sam Darnold, which means Bell will surely get a heavy dose of carries this season.
After a season of no football and no contact, Bell’s body should be fresh and ready to go, especially if he keeps missing workouts. But is there such a thing as too fresh? Could Bell’s lack of football in the past year come back to haunt him when he gets those first couple big hits in a game? Only time will tell but that is something to look out for once the season starts.
Bell bet on himself and ended up getting a pretty big payday because of it. However, the pressure is on to show people that, even after a year of no football, Bell is still one of the games most dynamic players. If he doesn’t produce big numbers, I’m sure his Twitter mentions will be blowing up by the second.