| New York adds depth to the secondary with the addition of Bell. (US PRESSWIRE) |
The Dolphins unceremoniously dumped Yeremiah Bell in March. On Friday the 34-year-old safety signed a one-year, $1.4 million deal with the Jets, multiple outlets are reporting.
Bell joins former Redskins first-rounder LaRon Landry, who was signed earlier this offseason. It remains unclear if the team will try to bring back Jim Leonhard, who suffered a major knee injury in 2011.
Cornerback Darrelle Revis sure hopes so, calling Leonhard the "quarterback" of the secondary. Landry, meanwhile, has his own injury history that scared some teams off during free agency. Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum said in March the plan is to have Landry ready for Week 1 of the regular season.
“This is a challenge for us," Tannenbaum said, according to the New York Daily News' Manish Mehta. "But with that said, we feel really good about LaRon. We feel really good about our medical department. We’re going to work as a partnership to get him ready for opening day. Barring something unforeseen, we think he’ll be ready to go.”
(In related news, this is ... well, odd.)
While Bell is expected to play behind Landry at strong safety with Eric Smith potentially moving to free safety, all three have very similar styles. Which is to say: they're better against the run than the pass (obvious exception in Smith's case: the Tebow Bowl). According to ProFootballFocus.com, last season, Bell and Smith were among the top-10 defensive backs in rushing the quarterback. And Bell and Landry cracked the top 10 in QB pressures as well as PFF's "most productive pass-rusher" statistic.
Bell and Landry are clearly most comfortable playing near the line of scrimmage, which is mitigated by the Jets' cornerbacks, Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie, who have a knack for shutting down opponents' wide receivers (the former more so than the latter, but Cromartie has been serviceable in that role even if he's still not fond of tackling).
Bell visited the Eagles Thursday and was expected to possibly sign there. He had previously met with the Titans, Chiefs and Jets. New York also added depth to the secondary in last month's NFL Draft, selecting Josh Bush in the sixth round and Antonio Allen in the seventh round.
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