After a bit of a messy divorce, the Jets released former All-Pro running back Le'Veon Bell Tuesday evening. Bell only played in 17 games with the Jets After signing a four-year, $52 Million deal with them in March of 2019.
He can now choose to sign with any team that is interested in him for the right price, and according to NBC Sports Bet, the odds are in the Eagles' favor to sign him. Right now they have the second-highest odds of signing the 28-year-old.
There could be some interest between the Birds and Bell -- two years ago Bell said he believed the Eagles would have been interested in him in his upcoming free agency. Of course, the asking price was too high for Howie Roseman to be interested in, and he ultimately drafted Miles Sanders in the second round of the 2019 Draft to take care of the Eagles' running back problems. Sanders has played well for the Birds so far. He had an excellent rookie campaign in 2019 (1,327 scrimmage yards) and has continued on the right path in 2020 so far (316 rushing yards -- 6th-most in NFL).
Though Sanders has been fine as the starting running back, his backups (Boston Scott, Corey Clement, Jason Huntley) have all failed to produce when their numbers have been called. It's not out of the realm of possibility that they could be looking to upgrade their backfield and would be interested in Bell's services.
Ultimately it'll all come down to money. The Eagles have major cap issues in 2021 they need to solve and would like to roll over as much of the 2020 cap as they can into next season. Bell still sees himself as a top running back in the league and might not take a cheap one-year offer from the Birds.
We should find out relatively soon who Bell decides to join for the rest of 2020.
