Le'Veon Bell has message for Steelers fan regarding tumultuous exit from team in 2019

• NFL

Former All-Pro running back Le'Veon Bell has apologized to Pittsburgh Steelers fans for the way he acted toward the team five years ago. After the 2017 season ended, Bell - who at the time was one of the most productive running backs in the league - wanted a new contract and made it clear he was willing to sit out a certain number of games in 2018 without a new deal.

In the end, Bell and the Steelers couldn't agree on a new deal and the running back ended up sitting the entire 2018 season. After the 2018 season, Bell signed with the New York Jets, where he got his money but that's when his career started to go downhill.

Bell apologizes to Steelers fans

"I never apologized to the fans for really sitting out, or leaving the Steelers. I never apologized. So I want to say I apologize for leaving the best damn fans there is in this damn world.

I shouldn't have left. I apologize, I should never have left. I apologize. That's my fault. That's on me," Bell said in a video uploaded on his social media. After just a season and a half with the Jets, Bell was cut and then he had very short tenures with the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens and Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the next year and a half.

After leaving the Steelers, Bell never again had the same production. Last season, Bell wasn't signed by any team. Now at 31 years old, Bell is without a team and his NFL career has likely come to an end. In May, Bell admitted leaving the Steelers a couple of years ago was a mistake.

“Yeah, it was a little petty, the little guarantee stuff. I’m thinking like, ‘Damn, could I have really just ate it?’ Yeah, I probably could’ve. Probably could’ve really ate it," Bell said on the Steel Here podcast in late May.