NFL running back Le’Veon Bell took a financial hit last season when he sat out the entire year for a contract dispute with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Eventually, when he signed with a new team this offseason, the contract is reportedly for less money than he’d been offered by Pittsburgh a year earlier. Now, Bell has taken another hit with the news that he had a massive amount of jewelry stolen from his home. Moreover, the suspected culprits are described as his girlfriends.
Per ESPN , two female acquaintances of the running back, identified in a police report as Bell’s girlfriends, vanished from his mansion in Hollywood, Florida, along with $520,000 in jewelry. Among the missing items, per the report, are “two gold chains with diamonds, a black panther pendant with black and white diamonds and a Rolex watch.”
According to The New York Post , the women were with Bell at his home on May 25 when he left to work out. When he returned, the women and the jewels were gone. Police have not identified the suspects.
Bell, after a multi-year contract dispute with the Steelers, finally reached free agency this offseason and signed a four-year, $52.5 million deal with the New York Jets, with whom he practiced for the first time this week as part of an offseason mini-camp.
However, the Jets’ decision-makers were reportedly divided over whether or not to sign Bell, and that tension is said to have led to the firing of Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan last month. The former GM was said to have favored the move to acquire Bell, while new head coach Adam Gase believed that the team had spent too much money on the running back.
On May 25, @LeVeonBell returned from the gym to find that two females acquaintance had left his house, taking more than $500,000 in jewelry with them https://t.co/X7YY4VYuUd
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) June 6, 2019
Per Bleacher Report , NFL insider John Clayton said in a recent interview that he could see the Jets trading Bell to another team before he even plays a regular season game with them. The Jets have yet to hire a new general manager following the mid-offseason firing of Maccagnan, but Philadelphia Eagles team executive Joe Douglas is said to be the favorite for the job, per Yardbarker .
Bell indeed put on a Jets uniform earlier this week, per USA Today, after the player skipped voluntary workouts earlier in the offseason. While Bell only played sparingly and “looked rusty and a little lost at times,” he also looked to be in shape.
“When training camp comes, I will definitely be ready,” Bell said, according to the newspaper. “Trust me.”
