Le'Veon Bell Released by New York Jets, Expected to Sign With Kansas City Chiefs (UPDATE)

UPDATE 10/15, 6:38p.m. ET: Le’Veon Bell is set to sign a one-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs, ESPN's Adam Schefter reports.

See original story below. 

On Tuesday night, the New York Jets announced that they are releasing running back Le'Veon Bell.

The Jets have been trying to trade the running back, but found no suitable partners. "After having conversations with Le’Veon and his agent and exploring potential trade options over the past couple of days, we have made the decision to release Le’Veon,” the general manager said in a statement. "The Jets organization appreciates Le’Veon’s efforts during his time here and we know he worked hard to make significant contributions to this team. We believe this decision is in the best interests of both parties and wish him future success."

According to NFL Network reporter Tom Pelissero, the team owes Bell a guaranteed base salary of another $6 million this season. "His $8 million base salary for 2021 was guaranteed for injury only," he tweeted. "Virtually impossible to trade, but they tried. Instead, Bell is now a free agent." Bell signed to the Jets on a four-year, $52.5 million deal back in March of 2019.

Bell seemingly responded to the news with a prayer emoji on Twitter.

Bell, who has had a contentious relationship with head coach Adam Gase, also tweeted out that he has "a lot to prove" and is "ready to go."

"I hate that’s the route that we go with all of this instead of just talking to me about it, but it is the way guys want to do it nowadays," Gase told reporters on Monday after Bell liked tweets saying that he should have been used more. Bell also liked tweets that said he should be traded. 

Unsurprisingly, the news of Bell's release got a lot of attention on social media. You can check out some reactions to it all below.