Le’Veon Bell Impresses During His Kansas City Chiefs Debut

The Kansas City Chiefs wasted little time involving their newest toy, Le’Veon Bell, in Sunday’s 43-16 victory against the Denver Broncos.

He entered the game on the Chiefs’ second offensive series.

“He gives us an additional piece to the puzzle,” said offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, who raved about Bell on Thursday.

Bell was actually a bit of decoy on his very first play, which came with just more than eight minutes in the first quarter.

The Chiefs faked it to him, he blocked linebacker Malik Reed and then went out for a pass, though the completion went to backup tight end Nick Keizer, who fumbled the ball.

But Bell played the entire next drive, and his first carry, which came with 6:04 left in the first quarter, was an impressive one. He rushed for 16 yards, his longest of the game.

“Clearly, he still has some juice in the tank,” said Chiefs running backs coach Deland McCullough on Thursday.

Bell also had a 16-yard run in the third quarter. On that play Tyreek Hill ran behind the line of scrimmage as if he was going to run a jet sweep, and the Broncos defenders even called out that it was a reverse.

The Chiefs showed more signs of creative ways they could use Bell on the second drive of the third quarter.

On 1st and 10, Bell and Edwards-Helaire were in at the same time and both split out wide before the pass went incomplete to Edward-Helaire.

“(Bell)’s a great receiver out of the backfield,” Bieniemy said. “He can block, he can pick up blitzes in protection.”

Though Bell didn’t catch any passes, he finished with six carries for 39 yards and showed signs he will provide great value to the Chiefs.

The Chiefs are paying him a $1 million base salary, though that’s prorated for the first five games he was still on the New York Jets, meaning he will make around $690,000 from Kansas City. He can also earn $1 million in incentives before becoming a free agent after the season.

After holding out in 2018, he signed a four-year, $52.5 million contract last year with the Jets but struggled with them before signing with the Chiefs.

There was much discussion on how the Chiefs would handle playing time between their most recent acquisition and talented rookie Edwards-Helaire. 

Edwards-Helaire had a 27-yard run and a touchdown. He also led the Chiefs in rushing attempts and yardage with eight for 46.

Though much of the attention was on the running backs, it was some of the Chiefs’ less heralded players who allowed them to defeat the Broncos for the 10th straight time, a streak that dates back to 2015.

Safety Daniel Sorensen, who was sporting a nice bleached blond dye job, had a pick-six and two vicious hits on running back Phillip Lindsay, including one that knocked him out of the game.

Wide receiver Byron Pringle, who is receiving playing time because of Sammy Watkins’ injury, had a 102-yard kickoff return.

Four turnovers and sloppy Broncos play, including a penalty for having too many people in the huddle, helped the Chiefs rout their divisional rival.

The game was so out of hand that neither Edwards-Helaire nor Bell finished the game at running back for Kansas City. It was DeAndre Washington, Patrick Mahomes’ former college teammate, who closed it out.

The Chiefs also pulled Mahomes, replacing him with backup quarterback Chad Henne, who ran for a touchdown, showing that Kansas City has great depth across the board.