Le’Veon Bell contemplated retiring from football, starting boxing career before Buccaneers signed him

Just three days after Le’Veon Bell tweeted about starting his boxing career, the veteran running back signed with the Buccaneers, marking his official return to the NFL.

Before the Buccaneers called him, Bell planned to retire from football and enter the ring in the near future. However, Tampa Bay’s interest in Bell made him realize that he wanted to give football another chance.

“Yeah, I was going to be done. I was at the point where I wasn’t really going to play football. I was going to focus on boxing,” Bell told reporters on Wednesday. “Once you get that phone call, it was like, ‘Oh yes, this is it.'”

MORE: Why did the Buccaneers sign Bell?

Bell was specifically interested in playing with the 2021 Super Bowl champions. He will be working with seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady and Antonio Brown, who starred alongside Bell in Pittsburgh from 2013-17.

“This was literally the only place that could have called me and got me ready to go play,” Bell said. “It’s something you can’t really turn down, playing with coach [Bruce] Arians, Tom Brady and obviously [Brown].”

MORE: Arians confirms Brown, Edwards will return after suspensions

On Sunday, Bell was tweeting about potentially being Jake Paul’s next opponent. However, some of the initial tweets that started the conversation on social media about Bell’s future have since been deleted. Paul recently moved to 5-0 in his professional career after knocking out former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley.

“I’m tired of watching [Paul] out-box [people] who don’t even wanna box,” Bell tweeted.

MORE: Bell challenges Paul to fight him, not ‘small dudes who can’t box’

In one of his other tweets on the subject, Bell declared that Paul wouldn’t fight him because of his age (29 years old), athletic background and combat experience.

It’s possible that he could still face Paul in the ring at some point, but with Bell now looking to immediately contribute for Tampa Bay, he probably won’t be trading punches with Paul anytime soon.