Los Angeles Rams should be concerned over San Francisco 49ers pursuing Le’Veon Bell

Now that Le’Veon Bell is expected to hit the open market as a free agent, the Los Angeles Rams should be concerned over the possibility of the San Francisco 49ers pursuing the running back.

Even though the Los Angeles Rams aren’t expected to express any interest in Le’Veon Bell since the NFC champions are set at running back with Todd Gurley along with the possibility of C.J. Anderson returning, this doesn’t mean the running back still won’t join the NFC West.

One day after the biggest news surrounding the Pittsburgh Steelers involved the meeting that led to Antonio Brown officially being on the trade market, the team announced on Wednesday that Bell wouldn’t receive any sort of tag for the 2019 season.

In other words, after all these years, Bell will finally have the opportunity to hit the open market as a free agent, and should see plenty of offers thrown in his direction for teams looking to fill their need at the running back position.

Football fans can say whatever they want about the concerns surrounding Bell after sitting out all of last season while fighting for a new contract from the Steelers, but the numbers from over the years don’t lie.

When healthy and on top of his game, Bell has proven on numerous occasions to be one of the most dangerous running backs in the NFL since he’s just as dangerous at receiver as running back.

For obvious reasons, the thought of Bell in an offense run by Sean McVay would seem like a dream come true for the Rams, but since the team is set with Gurley for years to come, there’s no way this would ever happen.

As for the other teams in the NFC West, well let’s just say if Los Angeles were to worry about one potential suitor, the San Francisco 49ers sit on top of the list.

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Expectations were higher than ever for the 49ers around this time last year, as the team finished the 2017 season on a positive note by winning their five final games with Jimmy Garoppolo under center before rewarding the quarterback with quite the hefty contract extension.

Now that San Francisco finally had a reliable quarterback to compete in the NFC West, this seemed like another team along with the Seattle Seahawks that would cause trouble in competing for the division title.

Unfortunately, the 49ers watched their season quickly go downhill early on in 2018 when Garoppolo suffered a torn ACL, making it difficult for the team to live up to the high expectations set in the offseason.

On a positive note, as long as everything continues to go well with Garoppolo’s recovery process, San Francisco will have a much better chance at competing with Los Angeles in 2019. And if the 49ers end up finding a way to convince Bell to come on board, it’s only going to increase their chances of this scenario becoming more realistic.

Despite some of the younger talent for Garoppolo to work with in the passing game once he does return to full strength, the 49ers still need to provide their quarterback with a few better weapons to work with on offense.

Without a doubt, the addition of Bell would most likely see immediate results for a team like the 49ers since the running back would help take a ton of pressure off Garoppolo under center.

Plus, the most important factor of all for San Francisco is any sort of interest in Bell would catch the attention of Los Angeles since McVay and company know winning the NFC West title for a third year in a row is far from a guarantee since the Rams will be facing plenty of new pressure.