Yeremiah Bell has started every game in five of the last six seasons (and 15 in the one year he didn’t start every game) for the Dolphins, Jets and Cardinals, but it doesn’t sound like he’ll be trying to extend the streak in 2014.
It’s not because the Cardinals don’t want him back for a second season in the desert, however. Mike Jurecki of FOX Sports 910 in Phoenix reports that the Cardinals have made an offer to Bell for a return next season. According to Jurecki, though, the 36-year-old is leaning toward retirement.
If he does retire, it will bring an end to a career that started in unlikely fashion. Bell was working in a steel mill after high school when he hatched a plan to pay for one year at Eastern Kentucky University, walk onto the football team and earn a scholarship. It worked out, although Bell tore his patellar tendon before his senior season. He overcame that, got picked by the Dolphins in the sixth round in 2003 and eventually made the Pro Bowl with Miami.
Assuming his ACL rehab goes well, the Cardinals have Tyrann Mathieu at one safety spot. Reshad Johnson and Tony Jefferson also started games at safety for the Cards last season and former Cardinal Adrian Wilson is a free agent after getting released by the Patriots should they have interest in a reunion.