After confirming that he won’t play football this year to focus on boxing, Le’Veon Bell reflected on his NFL career Wednesday in a lengthy Instagram post that had the feel of a farewell letter.
Bell said he’s “blessed and fortunate” to have played in the NFL, but he also suggested that he may have made different decisions if doing it over again.
“The NFL has done great things for me, & I truly appreciated every single year of my NFL journey,” Bell wrote. “Obviously, I (we, whoever) wish things would’ve played out differently in 2018, like if I legit had a time machine to go back to 2018, that would be soo litttt for soo many reasons but I don’t … all I can do, all WE can do is keep moving forward with life.”
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After five sensational years with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Bell refused to play under the franchise tag and sat out the 2018 season. He then signed with the New York Jets as a free agent the following offseason.
While Bell didn’t clarify how he would change those course of events, Steelers fans took it as an acknowledgement that he should have suited up in 2018, and perhaps stayed with the team beyond his contract year.
Bell was never the same outside of Pittsburgh. After averaging 129.0 yards from scrimmage per game with the Steelers, he offered just 54.3 yards per contest for four different teams over the last three seasons.
The 30-year-old appears to be done with football, at least for now, as he prepares for his first boxing fight against fellow All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson on July 30.