Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins and Pittsburgh running back Le’Veon Bell were teammates at Michigan State, and they would have been teammates in the NFL if Cousins got his way.
Cousins told The Postgame that before the 2013 draft, Cousins (who had been drafted in Washington the year before) urged his team to add Bell.
“Le’Veon is so talented and he was our best running back the minute he stepped on campus at Michigan State,” Cousins said. “And I remember scouts from the Redskins asking me about him going into the draft. They said, ‘Tell us about Le’Veon.’ I said, ‘I haven’t seen a lot of NFL backs. I’ve only been in the league one year. But I don’t know what he can’t do. He can pass protect, he can catch the ball, he can run routes, he can run downhill, he’s fast, he has a spin move, he can jump over people. I don’t know where the weakness is, so that’s all I can tell you.’ He’s still showing there’s not many things he can’t do.”
So, Cousins was asked, why didn’t they draft Bell in 2013?
“You’d have to go ask them. I’m not an evaluator. I’m not a scout. I just play quarterback,” Cousins said.
The actual answer is, Washington didn’t have the opportunity: After trading their first-round pick in 2013 to move up and draft Robert Griffin III in 2012, Washington’s first pick in the 2013 draft was No. 51 overall. Pittsburgh took Bell No. 48 overall.
So Cousins never really had a chance of being a professional teammate. Until now: Both Cousins and Bell are scheduled to become free agents next month. Perhaps some team with a whole lot of cap space can make them teammates again.