With Anthony Barr out of the picture, is it time for Jets to throw the bag at Bell?

The Jets were spurned earlier Tuesday afternoon after they agreed in principle with free agent LB Anthony Barr.  Barr left his agreement on the table to return to the Vikings on a five year, $67.5M deal.  While it may not be the best optics that a free agent pulls out of a deal, the Jets already had CJ Mosley on their books and could use the money elsewhere.

Where they’ll use that money is to be seen, but according to many sources they put down a final offer to Le’Veon Bell.  Bell is coming off a season where he didn’t play the entire year after holding out with the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Long story short, Bell didn’t want to play on the franchise tag and wanted a long term deal, the deal never happened, so Bell chose not to play at all.

The question is;  Is Bell worth the money the Jets will be giving him?  The terms aren’t disclosed but assuming Bell signs with them, it’s going to be a hefty price to pay.  Bell is still one of the best dual threat running backs in the game, but if the Jets could they’re better off signing Bell-Lite in Tevin Coleman.  Coleman is younger, has a similar skill set, and will be much less of a headache.

The issue with Coleman is that a lot of this is based on potential and not results.  Coleman has been remarkably productive in a backup role to Devonta Freeman but hasn’t fully embraced that full time running back role.  If the Jets want a sure thing, they should sign Bell.  If they want to be able to plug up more holes, they should sign Coleman.  It’s as simple as that.