Le'Veon Bell and Adam Gase's butting heads simply won't go away . . . will the running back?

It’s time to connect the dots with Le’Veon Bell, and the image simply doesn’t look promising for the Jets’ 28-year-old running back.

Two weeks to go until the regular season opener in Buffalo, and already it feels as if Bell is not long for this team. After an offseason détente with coach Adam Gase, who had struggled last year to incorporate Bell in the offense, the two are already butting heads over Bell’s unhappiness at – get this – not getting enough snaps in an intra-squad scrimmage on Tuesday.

Here we go again.

Bell took to Twitter to knock down Gase’s rationale for limiting his playing time. With Gase telling reporters that Bell’s hamstrings were tightening up, Bell shot back on social media that his hamstrings were fine. “It’s tough to stay loose when you do a bunch of standing around… & I’m used to GOINGGG…. I PRACTICE for a GAME!!! I need to PRACTICE to be great in GAMES!!!”

Shades of Allen Iverson – only in reverse. The former 76ers guard famously said during the 2002 season, “Listen, we’re talking about practice, not a game, not a game, we talking about practice!” in response to suggestions that he didn’t work hard enough in coach Larry Brown’s practices. Bell wants the ball in practice, and he was clear about that to the rest of the world.

The only person he didn’t tell was Gase himself.

“I told him [in a subsequent conversation] I thought our relationship was way better than him going on social media,” Gase said Saturday after practice. “That he could just come in and talk to me.”

There is a tenuous peace for now, but the fact that we’re still here talking about Bell and Gase butting heads is reason to believe that this won’t be the last of it. After all, right from the start, the Bell-Gase relationship has been uncomfortable.

Remember, it was Gase who lobbied against then-Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan signing Bell to a four-year, $52 million dollars, including $35 million guaranteed. Gase preferred that Maccagnan use that salary cap space at other positions, especially because the coach prefers a running-back-by-committee approach for his offensive system. Bell, who sat out the 2018 season in Pittsburgh because of a contract dispute, is a feature back who needs to get into the flow of a game and thus needs plenty of carries. 

But Maccagnan was fighting to save his job, and he went on a free-agent spending spree in 2019, signing Bell as well as former Ravens linebacker C.J. Mosley, who got a five-year, $85 million deal. Maccagnan won the power struggle with Bell, leaving Gase with a player he never felt comfortable with in the first place.

It simply didn’t work last season.

Gase overused Bell early on, a misguided approach, since Bell hadn’t played in nearly two years. Bell finished with just 789 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Some of it was his fault; he simply didn’t have the burst from his Pittsburgh days, when he’d dart through a small crease in the line and then surge ahead for big gains. But some of it was the offensive line, which simply wasn’t up to the job.

Now connect these dots: Maccagnan never even made it to the regular season, having been replaced by Joe Douglas in May of  2019. Douglas admitted he fielded trade inquiries about Bell last October, but nothing that was valuable enough to make a move. During the offseason, Douglas drafted La’Mical Perine out of Florida in the fourth round. The 5-11, 216-pound running back has looked solid so far in training camp, a good fit for Gase’s offense.

Douglas had previously signed 37-year-old running back Frank Gore, whose days as a workhorse back are over but who is a valuable backup with terrific leadership skills.

And just this week, Douglas acquired Dolphins running back Kalen Ballage, who was in Miami in 2018 during Gase’s final season there. The Dolphins were ready to release Ballage, but fearing that another team might claim him on waivers, Douglas instead spent a conditional seventh-round pick on the third-year running back. He was a bit player in Miami, rushing for just 135 yards and three touchdowns last season, but his familiarity with Gase is important.

Put that all together, and you can’t help but wonder if Bell’s days are numbered with the Jets.

Douglas already parted ways with Jamal Adams, another player he inherited from Maccagnan’s roster, so the second-year GM won’t hesitate to make a similar move if he finds a trading partner who makes it worth his while in a deal for Bell.

Sure feels like it’s only a matter of time before he’s gone.

By Bob Glauber

Special to NewsdayBobGlauber

Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”