Le’Veon Bell Will Focus on Boxing Career, Not Returning to NFL

Posted on by Nafiz Labib

Former NFL running back Le’Veon Bell has decided to focus on his boxing career this season and will not play in the NFL 2022-2023 season.

Bell made his intentions clear in a press conference to promote his upcoming fight with fellow former running back Adrian Peterson at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on July 30th. Both are currently still free agents.

Bell said,

“Boxing is something that, you know, they always say it’s something you can’t play boxing. Last year, I almost sat out the whole year to try to focus on boxing because I kind of knew that was what I wanted to transition to. This year, I know I’m not going to be playing this year because I want to focus on boxing.”

Bell intended this fight to serve as an introduction and a starting point to a possible professional boxing career, and he doesn’t want this to be a one-time thing as he doesn’t plan on returning to the NFL anytime soon. In addition, no teams have expressed any interest in signing Bell for their rosters. Unlike Bell, Peterson does want to keep his options open on returning to the NFL despite wishing more for his boxing career to go forward.

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Le’Veon Bell used to be a monster of a running back, being selected to Pro Bowl three times within a career spanning eight seasons. However, his last Pro Bowl season was in 2017 with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Bell had contractual disputes with the Steelers in 2018 and was released by them, signing with the New York Jets the following season, only to be released halfway through the season. Since then, he’s been on four different teams (New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and has struggled to make an impact. He’s only had 429 rushing yards across four teams in the last two seasons. In comparison, in 2017, Bell had 1,291 rushing yards and 9 touchdowns.

Bell’s future in the NFL has currently collapsed, but he may return within the coming seasons despite his verbal, clear-cut intentions otherwise.

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