Nate Taylor and Josh Tolentino of The Athletic are reporting that free agent RB Le’Veon Bell has narrowed his options down to the Chiefs and Dolphins.
The Bills are among the teams in the mix for Bell, according to reports. However, the Athletic says the Chiefs and Dolphins have more appeal to Bell, given that the Chiefs can offer a chance to compete for a title and Bell lives and trains in South Florida during the offseason.
This comes shortly after Michael Giardi reported that the Dolphins are now “waving around” a fair amount of money to try and get Bell to sign in Miami.
According to Adam Beasley, it sounds like the Dolphins are willing to go to two years with Bell, which has made them a serious player to sign Bell.
Mike Garafolo reported the Chiefs thought they were going to have Bell locked up as soon as last night before Bell started considering other suitors.
While the Jets had offsets in Bell’s deal, Garafolo points out he could claim termination pay and double dip with both the guaranteed money the Jets still owe him and whatever new salary he can get from his next team.
That makes salary and negotiations with suitors a very relevant factor in Bell’s decision on a new team.
Bell, 28, is a former second-round pick of the Steelers back in 2013. He played out the final year of his four-year, $4,120,600 rookie contract, but Pittsburgh used their franchise tag on him.
The Steelers decided to franchise Bell for the second straight year, but he elected to hold out the entire 2018 season and set himself up for free agency in 2019. The Jets later signed Bell to a four-year, $52.5 million contract worth up to $61 million and including $35 million guaranteed.
Bell was set to make base salaries of $8 million and $9.5 million the next two years.
In 2020, Bell has appeared in two games for the Jets and rushed 19 times for 74 yards while catching three passes for 39 yards and no touchdowns.
We have him included in our Top 50 Available 2020 Free Agents list.
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