Blake Bell: The Bell Dozer

As I look up and down the Chiefs roster, one name that continues to excite me despite reason is the reason for this piece. That roster name and not-so-recent Chiefs addition added back into the fold is Blake Bell. You Arrowhead Guys remember Blake Bell? The Bell Dozer? He was with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2019 season, and while it seems like he was with the team longer (to me), I can assure you it was only one year. In that special year our Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl after a half-century draught. Remember Mitch Holthus, Super Bowl Win, Kansas City! However, the next season (sans Blake Bell) without the Bell Dozer — the Chiefs returned to promised land! The Super Bowl! The problem? Forget the offensive line, without the Dozer — the Chiefs dozed off and got Tom Brady’d in front of the entire world on the any given Sunday to end all Sunday’s. The Super Bowl.

Obviously, the common dominator to winning the Super Bowl vs. losing the Super Bowl was no Blake Bell. Before you run away from this article like bad puns at a Father’s Day BBQ, understand that Blake Bell stuff is obviously sarcasm. The serious truth is that I think the Chiefs could use “The Bell Dozer”. Not necessarily the underutilized Blake Bell from the 2019 Chiefs season, but “The Bell Dozer” from yesteryear. You should remember right? With the Internet becoming all things Tim Tebow again, with “Tebowmania” running wild like Hulk Hogan in the ’80s. My question becomes AG: “Whatcha gonna do brother? Whatcha you gonna do brother, when “Tebowmania” runs wild on you? The answer is that you find your own version! We all pile up in the way back machine, “The Bell Dozer” DeLorean and forget the Titans, we’re going to “Remember the Bell Dozer!”

When you think about Blake Bell, it’s hard to not remember the Bell Dozer days. It feels like he was in KC for more than a season (Welcome Back), but it was only a year. Here’s a refresher on the Bell Dozer from back in the day on Youtube.https://t.co/BlPU9j3BlQ

— W.A. Watts (@ChiefBlindersOn) May 22, 2021

It’s fun to take a little trip down memory lane and think about how a college player was vs. what they become in the pros. As a Nebraska Huskers fan, I had to do this a lot with players like: Tommie Frazier, Scott Frost and Eric Crouch. All amazing players in college, but ultimately didn’t transition to the NFL with the success fans envisioned for them after their collegiate careers were over. Much like players like Tim Tebow and Blake Bell also struggled to obtain that same level of greatness in the National Football League. The Blake Bell situation is different from the mania that surrounds Tebow partially because of the level of players that they were in college, true. But mostly because while Tim Tebow still tried to be an NFL QB, Blake Bell has put everything from the get-go into becoming an NFL level tight end. If you look at Blake Bell’s NFL timeline, it plays out like this. Now to then:

• Seventh-year tight end enters his second season with the Chiefs in 2021.
•  Made his NFL debut with the 49ers versus the Minnesota Vikings (9/14) during his rookie season in 2015.
• Originally entered the NFL as the first of three fourth-round draft picks (117th overall) by the San Francisco 49ers in the 2015 NFL Draft.

Transactions:

• Signed by Kansas City (3/18/21) … Signed by Dallas (3/25/20) … Declared Free Agent (3/18/20) … Signed by Kansas City (4/2/19) … Signed by Jacksonville (10/16/18) … Released by Minnesota (9/1/18) … Acquired via waivers by Minnesota (9/3/17) … Released by San Francisco (9/2/17) … Originally entered the NFL as the first of three fourth-round draft picks (117th overall) by the San Francisco 49ers in the 2015 NFL Draft.

Granted, with Tim Tebow it’s been a much longer journey as Tebow was drafted during Todd Haley’s Chiefs tenure. Way back in 2010 when the Chiefs were sailing on the shoulders of Matt Cassel and under the watchful eye of candy wrapper-spottin’ Chiefs GM, Scott Pioli. The point is, it was a long time ago. But with Blake Bell I think the tight end project is light years ahead — progress wise — then what the Jacksonville Jaguars will be dealing with trying to transition Tim Tebow to tight end after all these years as a QB and–a baseball player. As a professional, the only thing that Blake Bell has tried to become is an NFL Tight End. Recently, Blake Bell journeyed down to be a Dallas Cowboy and had his best year production wise with 110 yards off 15 targets. Bell’s touchdown in his NFL career actually came with the Chiefs in the 2019 season playoffs. When you look back to his college career, that almost seems impossible, but it’s a true-fact nonetheless. As I’ve told you before AG, I’m not someone that’s going to review film. However, the Internet exists and luckily a Youtube site called Voch Lombardi did a review on Blake Bell. Fortunately for us, it was featuring a lot of Blake Bell’s time with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2019. Check it out:

Here’s a little review that I found on Blake Bell.

Blake Bell, Dallas Cowboys Tight End || 2020 Film Session https://t.co/cGBaoqPY7T via @YouTube

— W.A. Watts (@ChiefBlindersOn) May 22, 2021

AG, I encourage you to watch that review. It really highlights the blocking skills that Blake Bell has developed over the course of his career. And to be honest, the Kansas City Chiefs need that extra blocking ability to combine with Travis Kelce being the best tight end in the NFL. To convolute the situation, the Kansas City Chiefs also drafted the tight end from Duke – Noah Gray – (Click for NFL.com player profile). My thoughts on this acquisition is that they are separate moves that will both help the Chiefs at the tight end position in different ways. With Gray (whom I might do a separate piece on), I think he’ll develop into pass catching tight end. Whereas with Blake Bell, I think he’ll primarily be the TE2 with the heavy blocking assignments and the occasional gadget play.

Blocking isn’t necessarily exciting, but I think the Super Bowl taught us that it was a necessary evil that Patrick Mahomes is definitely going to require if the Chiefs want to build the dynasty we’ve always dreamed about. Blake Bell is that extra weapon in Andy Reid’s arsenal and my imagination runs away with me thinking about Bell’s college career vs his professional career (click each link respectively to look at Bell’s career stats from each) and what he can do for the Chiefs. With Blake Bell, I think that tempering the delusion is a little bit necessary. While at the same time, respecting the Jason Dunn style play that the “Bell Dozer” might define as now. No matter how this particular article hits you about the Chiefs secondary tight end position, the verdict is that Blake Bell is that extra piece that will help the Chiefs on their road to the Super Bowl. On that road is Blake Bell driving the “Bell Dozer” in the slow lane, tearing up the streets and repairing the pot holes in the Chiefs path to championships that dozed off last season.

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