Jets coach Adam Gase and running back Le'Veon Bell are back on the same page. Or at least they’re back in the same book.
Gase removed Bell from a recent scrimmage, explaining that Bell had hamstring tightness. Bell took to Twitter to say there’s nothing wrong with his hamstrings. For now, there’s nothing seriously wrong with the relationship between coach and players.
Via Rich Cimini of ESPN.com, Gase told reporters that he and Bell spoke for a “long time.” Gase said, “I was caught off guard a little bit but we had a good talk. I told him I felt like our relationship was way better than him going on social media.”
The situation between Bell and Gase has been at times awkward, dating back to reports that Gase didn’t want the team to sign Bell. (More accurately, Gase didn’t think that the offense was good enough to justify a major investment in a running back, which should be the icing on the cake, not one of the first ingredients.) Last year, the Jets talked with several teams about trading Bell, who declined to redo his contract to facilitate another change of scenery.
As Bell enters the second and final season of guaranteed salary under his five-year deal, it definitely makes sense to monitor his relationship with the franchise and with the head coach. If the offense hasn’t developed to the point where Bell can get back to what he was in Pittsburgh — and if Bell simply isn’t in the kind of overall physical condition to do it — 2020 could end up being his last year with the team.