It's official: Running back Le'Veon Bell is at Jets minicamp.
After missing voluntary organized team activities and infamously skipping the 2018 season with the Steelers while holding out, Bell showed up at the Jets' practice facility at Florham Park, New Jersey.
"Uh oh, y'all. Y'all see it?" Bell said in a video of him in a new Jets No. 26 jersey. "Yeah. We here, baby! I'm in this green, 2-6. We here. And it's official. Media day. And we having fun."
Bell signed a four-year, $52 million deal with $27 million guaranteed to join the Jets in the offseason.
The 27-year-old three-time Pro Bowler made a statement last year when he refused to sign his franchise tender, sitting out the entire 2018 season because he and the Steelers didn't agree on a long-term contract.
He skipped voluntary OTAs in April, and his message then was, "Everybody will forget about that once January comes around."
New head coach Adam Gase wasn't concerned then, complimenting Bell's training regimen and saying, "It's voluntary -- that's what it is. It's the CBA, it's the rules."
Bell, who totaled 1,946 yards from scrimmage and 11 total touchdowns in 15 games with the Steelers in 2017, has been training in Miami with his long-time trainer Pete Bommarito, who said Bell is in "great shape" and has been using the team-issued iPad to study the team's playbook.
Some of Bell's new teammates, like defensive lineman Steve McLendon, tried to convince Bell to attend OTAs, while others like Jamal Adams supported Bell's plan, saying on social media, "I understand & get it brotha. Do what makes u happy. Ima hold it down."
Le'Veon Bell has arrived ✈✈
- SNY (@SNYtv) June 3, 2019
(via @nyjets)pic.twitter.com/DOd2cMUN6W
After Gase expressed his content to have Bell on a Jets offense that also features Jamison Crowder, Quincy Enunwa and Robby Anderson, Bell tweeted his appreciation.
Now that Bell is with the team, he can get to work with Sam Darnold, who said he was "super stoked" to have Bell in the backfield.
"You know obviously we know what Le'Veon is capable of," Darnold said last month. "Once we signed him I was pumped, just super stoked to have him on our team and for me to have him as a weapon. To be able to check the ball down, get him out in space, have him running routes, there's so many things we can do that Coach Gase has already addressed. So I'm really pumped about it."
Upon arriving at the team facility on Monday, Bell ended his video with two words:
"Stay tuned."