Over the past few weeks, the poor market for veteran running backs in the NFL has become a major talking point in the league, and now former Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro running back Le’Veon Bell is adding his voice to the discourse with an incredible bizarre take that compares the situation to a relatively obscure Disney movie.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Le’Veon Bell brought up the standoff between running backs and team owners, likening his own infamous contract situation to the 1998 Disney/Pixar film A Bug’s Life, comparing himself to the movie’s protagonist and the NFL owners to the antagonist.
“Disney a LONG time ago (1998) taught me a valuable lesson about sticking together, go watch “A Bug’s Life” … it’ll put in perspective the running back market .. the running backs are the ants .. I’m Flik (The Inventive Ant) I took ALL the damage from the grasshoppers (Owners),” Bell said in a tweet.
Disney a LONG time ago (1998) taught me a valuable lesson about sticking together, go watch “A Bug’s Life” … it’ll put in perspective the running back market .. the running backs are the ants .. I’m Flik (The Inventive Ant) I took ALL the damage from the grasshoppers (Owners)
— Le'Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) July 18, 2023
It’s an extremely bizarre way to make a point about the running back market and the standoff with team owners, and the NFL world had plenty to say about it on social media as a result.
How is this a tweet that Le'Veon Bell wrote and not a column one of my old friends wrote for The Ringer https://t.co/eL8fROudTj
— Dan Devine (@YourManDevine) July 19, 2023
Jacobin press room in an uproar https://t.co/MT40fwqDkJ
— ( ͡°( ͡° ͜ʖ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°) ͡°) (@rare_cryptid) July 19, 2023
Imagine any other site thinking they can come close to replicating this? https://t.co/Vas7A43XW4
— Trent Reznor Ramon (@fuzzybritches) July 18, 2023
Me: Sometimes concerned that my pop culture taste is too obscure/unrelatable for the 15ish people reading these posts
Former NFL star: Here's how an obscure kids' movie is like sports economics! https://t.co/LEAH2hi0DT
— Rajan Narang (@rdnarang) July 19, 2023
Le'Veon Bell using "A Bug's Life" to describe the running back market wasn't on my bingo card this week. https://t.co/hL6FbNSkuP
— Alex Walker (@AlexWalkerTV) July 19, 2023
can't stop thinking about this tweet https://t.co/VjY2cBfr2u
— J a k e (@JakeInRealLife) July 19, 2023
It's going to take another 400 episodes of the podcast for me to truly understand this. https://t.co/pxuEYvwdZZ
— Greg Kaplan (@BlueshirtsBreak) July 18, 2023
Deepest tweet I've read in years https://t.co/qpxMulyTXk
— 𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗹𝗶™ 🏴☠️ (@TheSamerAli) July 18, 2023
He had a strange way of doing it, but it’s clear that he got his message across. And that’s all that matters.
