Former NFL running back Le'Veon Bell said he felt "betrayed" by Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs during his one season with the team in 2020.
"When I was getting recruited [by the Chiefs as a free agent], I was promised a lot of things," Bell said on the It Is What It Is show [26:55 mark]. "I was promised, like, 'Right now, I'm drawing up plays for you right now, as we speak.' FaceTime, showing me on the board the plays, like 'Oh yeah, we're going to do this for you.' Keep in mind, this is Andy Reid talking to me."
But a major role never came to fruition for Bell in Kansas City. He played just nine games for the team in the 2020 season, rushing for 254 yards and two touchdowns, and didn't play in either the AFC Championship Game or Super Bowl.
Bell said in hindsight, however, he wished he had handled his divorce with the Chiefs differently:
"I talked to them during the exit meeting too, I was basically telling them how I felt. Like, 'You're telling me all of this stuff on the phone, and then when we get into the season, you ain't use me the way you said.' He basically told me, 'We were going to get to it, but you ended up getting hurt.' This, that and the other, And I was like, 'Alright, whatever.' And then me and Andy Reid kinda had our falling out, I called him out on social media. But I'm thinking in hindsight, maybe if I'd have just stuck that out, maybe the next year we start getting around to the way he wanted to use me. Maybe he ain't really know how to coach me yet."
He later acknowledged that he probably shouldn't have aired out his grievances with Reid publicly:
Le'Veon Bell @LeVeonBellI said what I said & I don't regret at all what I said...for those who have a PERSONAL PROBLEM with me because of what I SAID, that's fine...you have your right! just understand I ALSO have MY RIGHT for how I feel about MY PERSONAL problem with dude because of what HE SAID to me
Le'Veon Bell @LeVeonBellnever did I say I didn't enjoy my time in KC, because I loved my time there, and was probably the closest locker room full of players I ever been around...I enjoyed my teammates, the city, food, the fans, just about everything in KC...
Le'Veon Bell @LeVeonBellI'm not about to get all into depth on why I feel the way I do, but I have my right to feel the way I feel...the ONLY thing I would change is commenting how i really felt on social media...
Le'Veon Bell @LeVeonBellI'll admit that's somethin I could've and should've kept to myself & I apologize about that and that only... but I don't regret what I said, because that's how I feel...
Le'Veon Bell @LeVeonBellso you can love me or hate me, I'm gonna be fine regardless ... I'm just giving you a small version from my point of view on why I said what I said ...
"I enjoyed my time with him," Reid told reporters at the time after Bell's comments. "I'm pulling for him. That's how I roll."
The Chiefs largely relied on then-rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire during the 2020 season. The first-round pick rushed for 803 yards and four touchdowns, while Bell, Darrel Williams (169 rushing yards, one touchdown) and Darwin Thompson (97 rushing yards, one score) also saw smaller roles.
And it was Williams who saw the most carries (28) and rushing yards (135) during the postseason.
So if Bell felt he was going to be more heavily utilized based on how the Chiefs recruited him, it's understandable how he might have felt aggrieved. He went on to play five games for the Baltimore Ravens and three games for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2021 season before turning to boxing.
It's also fair to question if his best football was well behind him by the time he reached Kansas City.
Bell was a three-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro during his prime years with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but by the time he reached Kansas City, he had sat out the 2018 season amid a contract holdout and struggled in 2019 with the New York Jets, rushing for just 789 yards and three touchdowns.
The Jets cut him in Oct. 2020, ending a disappointing and brief stint with the team, before Kansas City signed him later that month. And that marriage didn't go the way Bell believed it would, could or should have gone.
