Former Steeler Le’Veon Bell says he got high during games

Former Pittsburgh Steeler Le’Veon Bell said on a recent podcast that he would score touchdowns and win games — even if he’d previously smoked weed.

Bell, who is now a free agent, did stints with the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens and Tampa Bay Buccaneers after leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers — where he truly feels at home in his pro football career. CBS News reports that on a recent podcast, Bell revealed details of how often he smoked, even before the game.

During Bell’s streak with the Steelers from 2013 to 2017, he had 5,336 rushing yards, 2,660 receiving yards and an average of 5.2 yards per touchdown. Bell also earned two All-Pro selections and had three 1,000-yard rushing seasons. He was named one of the NFL Top 100 in 2015 and 2016. He apparently rushed many of those touchdowns.

On episode 30 of the Steel Here podcast, Bell explained how he smoked weed before some of his best performances for the Steelers.

“Looking back, that’s exactly what I did,” Bell said. “When I played football, I smoked. Even before the games I was smoking and going out and running 150, two (touchdowns).”

In 2019, Bell signed a four-year, $52.5 million deal with the New York Jets, but it didn’t last too long. Bell has not played professional football since the 2021 season but has no plans to retire from the league anytime soon. A contract dispute caused him to leave the Steelers, but he hopes to retire with them at some point.

“It was literally the guarantee. They would not be dissuaded and I would not be dissuaded. I didn’t want to leave Pittsburgh,” Bell said. “At the end of the day I was there. I was drafted there. Especially after going to different teams and seeing what it’s like: when a team has its man, you are its man. I was Pittsburgh’s guy.”

In 2021, the National Football League (NFL) changed its policy significantly, so players only need to take a cannabis drug test once at the start of training camp.

“I’m trying to retire with Pittsburgh,” Bell said. “But before I do that, I might be like, ‘Hey, let me do some carries in preseason so I can show you all something.'”

The NFL and Pot Policy

The NFL is relaxing cannabis policies like most other major sports leagues. Last year, the NFL took another step forward by awarding funds to two cannabis research initiatives that focused on the effectiveness of cannabis as a pain management treatment.

The NFL is currently researching cannabis-based drugs to treat pain, as the alternatives are usually opioids. The NFL announced in a February 1, 2022 press release that it would be donating $1 million to two different researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and the University of Regina (UR) in Canada. Both research groups will focus on how cannabinoids can help with general pain management, with a few other targeted studies.

The NFL-NFLPA Joint Pain Management Committee (PMC) called for research proposals in June 2021, inviting researchers to contribute the PMC’s knowledge of pain management and athletic performance.” The committee received a total of 106 submissions, which were funded by NFL Research and Innovation Committee were narrowed down to 10 finalists.

In the meantime, players are probably smoking. It mirrors what has been said about other major sports leagues like the National Basketball Association (NBA). (Jay Williams estimates that 80% of NBA players smoke weed; Al Harrington suspects the number is slightly higher.)