Jets RB Le'Veon Bell to be 'more involved' against Dolphins

Nov. 1 (UPI) -- New York Jets running back Le'Veon Bell says the team has a game plan to get him "more involved" when they face the Miami Dolphins Sunday in Miami.

Bell -- who signed a four-year, $52.5 million contract with the team this offseason -- had eight carries last week. The workload matched the smallest of his career, when he had eight carries in a Week 17 game against the Cincinnati Bengals in 2014.

The star running back was frustrated with his small workload in Week 8 and avoided reporters after the 29-15 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Bell said he wouldn't be upset if he wasn't getting carries and the team was winning, but the Jets are 1-6 this season.

"I expressed the way I felt to coach [Adam] Gase and things like that," Bell told reporters. "We had a good little talk. I want to be one of the main reasons for helping the team win. I don't like not being used and we end up losing the game. I felt like I couldn't help my team out.

"So we had that conversation. Hopefully, things are better from here on out. Obviously, I want to help my team win. That's why I came here in the first place. I want to be involved and I want to help the team win games."

Bell is averaging a career-worst 3.2 yards per carry. He has 349 yards and one score on 109 carries this season. Bell spoke about the possibility of being traded before the NFL trade deadline during a 17 Weeks podcast appearance Thursday. He said the Houston Texans, Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers were "in the mix" to trade for him.

"[The Jets have] a better game plan for me to get more involved this week, so it should be fun," Bell said.

Jets quarterback Sam Darnold said it's "very important" to get Bell more involved in the offense, but the team has to do it "naturally."

"In my progression, if he's late in the progression and I get to him, so be it," Darnold said. "But if I don't and I find an open guy, he's not going to be the type of guy to complain about it. He just wants to win. Everyone on this team wants to win. However we can do that, I think, him and the entire team would just be happy with that."

The Jets rank 31st in rushing with 63.9 yards per game. The Dolphins are allowing the second-most rushing yards per game (160.4). The Jets and Dolphins kickoff at 1 p.m. EDT Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.