Le’Veon Bell felt it to be the prudent move to hold out an entire season. In getting less than the Pittsburgh Steelers ultimately ended up offering, the decision to do so proved faulty. However, there’s one less year of wear and tear on the Pro-Bowl running back’s tires, so the New York Jets will no doubt be looking to run him early and often heading into the 2019-20 regular season. Whether the time off ultimately allows the Jets to become one of the premiere rushing teams in the league remains to be seen. Regardless, linemakers expect him to pick right back up where he left off with only three other running backs expected to gain more yards on the ground per their current rushing yards props at online sportsbooks.
Total Rushing Yards: 1100.5
Offensive Philosophy
Just how good a fit will Bell be for a Jets offense now led by new head coach Adam Gase and offensive coordinator Dowell Loggins? That duo called the shots in Miami last season, and the end results weren’t great. The Dolphins ran the ball over 42 percent of the time ( No. 12) and it amounted to an average of just 108.6 yards per game ( No. 18 ). In all, the duo of Frank Gore and Kenyan Drake made 276 combined rushes for a total of 1,257 yards. They did so behind one of the worst offensive lines in the game.
Unfortunately, that distinction also rings true with the New York Jets who bring the league’s No. 28 ranked unit to the table per the folks at Pro Football Focus. The franchise believes it bolstered itself up front with the offseason signing of Kelechi Osemele, but the big man regressed in a big way his final season in Oakland. Hopefully it was because he was playing on a dog team going absolutely nowhere, and the relocation to New York motivates the 8-year veteran to play like the Pro Bowler he once was.
New York Jets Football Schedule
Week 1: Bills
Week 2: Browns
Week 3: @Patriots
Week 4: Bye Week
Week 5: @Eagles
Week 6: Cowboys
Week 7: Patriots
Week 8: @Jaguars
Week 9: @Dolphins
Week 10: Jets
Week 11: @Redskins
Week 12: Raiders
Week 13: @Bengals
Week 14: Dolphins
Week 15: @Ravens
Week 16: Steelers
Week 17: @Bills
Schedule Breakdown
Those that back Bell’s rushing yards over the current impost will most likely not be very happy through the first half of the season. Buffalo and Cleveland weren’t great at defending opposing running games a season ago, but each looks to be much improved heading into 2019-20. New England will give Bell his biggest challenge to date on the road as a member of the Jets heading into the bye week. He’ll again have his hands full coming out of it with four straight tough matchups against the Eagles, Cowboys, and Jaguars with the second run-in against the Patriots sandwiched in between.
The schedule then takes a dramatic turn for the better the second half of the season with five of the eight opponents checking in with defenses ranked amongst the 8 worst the league had to offer a season ago. Those last three run-ins won’t be a walk in the park however with the Ravens, Steelers and Bills lined up to close the season out. It’ll be real tough for Bell to surpass the 1,100 yard plateau against those teams; especially if that Week 17 tilt in Buffalo is for a possible Wild Card seed.
The Bet
Bell has supposedly remained in tip-top shape over the course of his holdout and this offseason. If that truly is the case, the Jets will no doubt come away thrilled with his overall body of work. That said, I’m having reservations buying into him being able to surpass his rushing yards prop at top rated sportsbooks. Bell’s last snap that meant anything came back on January 14 of 2018 in the Steelers playoff loss at home to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Now I get that he’s an exceptional talent and one that should be given the benefit of the doubt, but it’s only natural he goes through some growing pains early on having not played a meaningful snap in over two years. Pair that with the fact that he’s working with an entirely new cast of characters, and it can only be assumed it will take some time for him and the hogs up front to learn each other’s nuances. Then there’s the tough early and late portions of the schedule to add to the mix.
For all those reasons, I believe Bell falls short of his projected rushing total in his inaugural campaign as a member of the J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets.
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