Will LeVeon Bell be a top-15 running back on your board in August? He’s got the nice receiving ability, but they couldn’t get him going on the ground in 2019. Bell ran for only 789 yards, and he averaged only 3.2 yards per carry.
The low point came in Week 14 against the Dolphins. The Jets ruled him out after illness kept Bell out of practice on Thursday and Friday, but Bell was seen bowling at an alley in New Jersey on the night before the game. Not a great look.
The struggles can’t all be pinned on Bell, of course. The team had a dreadful offensive line, and Adam Gase has a history of tending to forget about his running game. The team’s other running backs didn’t play any better when they were in there.
But Bell wasn’t effective, and there has been discussion that the Jets might mull whether they should trade him in the offseason. Salary considerations make cutting him not much of a possibility, but the Jets might consider agreeing to pay some of his remaining contract if a team were willing to take him off their hands.
Rich Cimini covers the Jets for ESPN. He had an interesting blurb at the tail end of his article today. The Jets “felt Bell gained weight and lost explosiveness as the season went on” last year. Presumably, someone in management or on the coaching staff told him as much.
Historically, when running backs start declining, they usually don’t return to prominence. In the last 30 years, 25 running backs have carried the ball at least 200 times in a season without averaging better than 3.3 per attempt. Only three of those backs came back the next year and ran for 1,000 yards (I’ve got them tagged with black dots). Only three others ran for even 800 yards.
| WORKHORSE BACKS AVERAGING UNDER 3.3 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Age | Att | Yards | Avg | TD | Next Yr |
| 1991 | Robert Delpino, LAR | 26 | 214 | 688 | 3.21 | 9 | 32-115-0 |
| 1993 | Neal Anderson, Chi. | 29 | 202 | 646 | 3.20 | 4 | DNP |
| 1993 | Reggie Cobb, T.B. | 25 | 221 | 658 | 2.98 | 3 | 153-579-3 |
| 1993 | Harold Green, Cin. | 25 | 215 | 589 | 2.74 | 0 | 76-223-1 |
| 1994 | •Rodney Hampton, NYG | 25 | 327 | 1,075 | 3.29 | 6 | 306-1,182-10 |
| 1994 | Jerome Bettis, LAR | 22 | 319 | 1,025 | 3.21 | 3 | 183-637-3 |
| 1994 | Marion Butts, S.D. | 28 | 243 | 703 | 2.89 | 8 | 71-185-4 |
| 1994 | Lewis Tillman, Chi. | 28 | 275 | 899 | 3.27 | 7 | 29-78-0 |
| 1996 | Leonard Russell, S.D. | 27 | 219 | 713 | 3.26 | 7 | DNP |
| 1996 | Rodney Hampton, NYG | 27 | 254 | 827 | 3.26 | 1 | 23-81-1 |
| 1997 | Karim Abdul-Jabbar, Mia. | 23 | 283 | 892 | 3.15 | 15 | 270-960-6 |
| 1999 | Curtis Enis, Chi. | 23 | 287 | 916 | 3.19 | 3 | 36-84-1 |
| 2001 | •Eddie George, Tenn. | 28 | 315 | 939 | 2.98 | 5 | 343-1,165-12 |
| 2001 | Lamar Smith, Mia. | 31 | 313 | 968 | 3.09 | 6 | 209-737-7 |
| 2001 | Maurice Smith, Atl. | 25 | 237 | 760 | 3.21 | 5 | 0-0-0 |
| 2003 | Jerome Bettis, Pitt. | 31 | 246 | 811 | 3.30 | 7 | 250-941-13 |
| 2003 | Eddie George, Tenn. | 30 | 312 | 1,031 | 3.30 | 5 | 132-432-4 |
| 2007 | Warrick Dunn, Atl. | 32 | 227 | 720 | 3.17 | 4 | 186-786-2 |
| 2009 | LaDainian Tomlinson, S.D. | 30 | 223 | 730 | 3.27 | 12 | 219-914-6 |
| 2012 | Darren McFadden, Oak. | 25 | 216 | 707 | 3.27 | 2 | 114-379-5 |
| 2013 | Rashard Mendenhall, Pitt. | 26 | 217 | 687 | 3.17 | 8 | DNP |
| 2013 | Ray Rice, Balt. | 26 | 214 | 660 | 3.08 | 4 | DNP |
| 2014 | Andre Ellington, Ariz. | 25 | 201 | 660 | 3.28 | 3 | 45-289-3 |
| 2016 | •Todd Gurley, LAR | 22 | 278 | 885 | 3.18 | 6 | 279-1,305-13 |
| 2019 | LeVeon Bell, NYJ | 27 | 245 | 789 | 3.22 | 3 | ?-?-? |
—Ian Allan