Le’Veon Bell in Jail; New kind of hold out?
We knew Le’Veon Bell was a fan of the holdout. He infamously sat out of the entire 2018 season during a contract dispute with the Steelers. This holdout is going slightly worse than the last one.
The former Pittsburgh Steeler was arrested by Jackson Township Police out of Stark County, Ohio on Sunday. According to a report from The Canton Repository, the arrest was due to a warrant out of Michigan for missed child support payments.
Bell, who has a child in Michigan, hasn’t played in the NFL since 2021 when he played three games for the Buccaneers, earning him a little over $179k, per Over the Cap. Bell’s attorney, Thomas Shaffer, alleges that the former running back is being “inaccurately” charged based on his professional athlete salary.
“Six months ago [Bell] cashed in an NFL pension to pay $50,000 in child support for that child.” Shafer told The Canton Repository. “His guidelines are still inaccurately being deemed based on his NFL salary and professional boxing career.”
Bell reportedly earned more than $44 Million over the course of his NFL career. It’s difficult to imagine going to jail for holding out on child support payments if Bell still had the capital to pay them. Makes me believe the running back didn’t make good financial decisions and can no longer make payments that once would have been the equivalent to a cell phone bill for the rest of us. To be fair, I don’t know what the actual payment is. It’s possible the amount was never reasonable.
As of the latest reports, Bell is awaiting transfer to another agency, presumably a police department out of Michigan.
-Written by Seattle Mike