During a sitdown with SNY's Jeane Coakley, Le'Veon Bell was asked if there's something he'd like to share that Jets fans may not know about him.

His answer? The star running back loves playing chess.

"A lot of people don't know I play chess," he admitted. "I'm an avid chess player. I literally play every day on my phone."

Bell's favorite leisure game, though, helps him on the football field as well. The 27-year-old's running style has always been one of patience, allowing his blockers to create holes that he can bolt through with ease. And Bell says a lot of that patience and thinking on the field comes from playing chess.

"A lot of people talk about my patience," he explained. "They say like, 'Le'Veon Bell, he runs with great patience.' And all I'm really doing is setting my blocks up, or setting my moves up just like chess.

"In chess, you kinda see like, 'I want to do this in two-three moves' or 'If I do this, I'm going to make him do that.' You try to manipulate a person. That's literally how I see the field. A lot of people can only see like the first level of a football field and I can see all three."

While he wants to manipulate his opponent to get to checkmate on a chessboard, Bell is looking to do the same thing. He knows there are some great defenders that do the same, but he will always try to outsmart them.

"So, in football, it's like if I want to get in this A gap, I'll make him think that I want to get in the B gap," he said.

Of course, Bell is blessed with physical gifts like his speed and elusiveness on the field. But the game is just as mental as it is physical, which Bell considers another blessing that he's made the best of.

"I think it's something I'm blessed with, but at the same time, I harnessed it and made it better," Bell said. "I think I made it better because [of] the game of chess and naturally my brain works in like milliseconds. I play speed chess so I'm thinking about my next move, my next move, my next move all the time."

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