The New York Jets signed superstar running back Le'Veon Bell to a massive contract in the 2019 offseason. Year one might not have gone exactly to plan, but he's still a great piece to have for their immediate future. With that being said, the Jets made another move on Tuesday. This time, they signed veteran running back Frank Gore to a one-year deal.
What does this mean for Bell? Is it going to impact his play in a positive or negative way? What can you expect in 2020?
The immediate reaction might be that this is bad news for Bell. Yes, Gore is about to be 37 and not exactly in his prime anymore, but he's still a very reliable running back.
In fact, his 3.6 yards per carry in 2019 were better than the 3.2 that Bell averaged. And he's really not that far removed from his last 1,000-yard season either. So Gore could take up some valuable playing time from Bell.
That isn't the case though. Gore is actually going to be Bell's savior. The running back now has someone to take some of the heat off of him.
In 2019, Bell ran the ball 245 times and had 78 targets (66 receptions) in 15 games. While that's not the insane amount of touches he had in his last season (2017), it was still high.
He didn't have a reliable back up last season. No one to spell him that defenses would realistically worry about too much.
That wore on him last season. And it was obvious in the last few weeks of the season when Bell had some of the worst games of his 2019 campaign.
In the last four weeks of the season Bell had some miserable performances. Those included a 32-yard rushing performance, his second-lowest of the season. He also had games with 2.6 yards per carry (his third-lowest of the season) and 2.9 yards per carry (his fourth-lowest of the season).
His other game in that foursome did see Bell go for 87 yards on 4.1 yards per carry. However, he also had a season-low one receiving yard.
Oh, and in those four games, Bell totaled zero touchdowns.
It's hard to pretend like Bell didn't run out of steam towards the end of the year. With Frank Gore logging some of the carries, this will keep Bell a little more rested.
Even more importantly, Gore can take some of those bruising carries if needed. Some third-and-shorts can be given to Gore, allowing him to run up the gut fighting for that extra yard.
While you might think that losing touches could hurt Bell's production, it might actually help him.
Obviously, this will keep the star a little more fresh. That's good for his longevity. It could also help him break off some bigger plays.
In 2019, Bell had zero carries of 20-or-more yards. Meanwhile, he had just two receptions of 20-plus in 2019. Those big plays seemed pretty normal for him back in his days with the Pittsburgh Steelers though.
Maybe Bell's had too much use to him already. A few seasons ago, he would thrive when getting the ball on what seemed like nearly every play. Now that takes a serious toll on him though.
So having that extra rest could bring out that old playmaker that gave defenses nightmares.
Frank Gore is a very reliable running back who could probably still rush for 1,000 yards as the feature back in an offense. That's not his role anymore though.
His role is to give a team a few good carries every single game. And that should be enough to let Bell recharge his batteries. And with Bell running close to fully charged all game instead of hitting empty by halftime, big plays could be in store for 2020.
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