Quinton Bell spent time on four different NFL rosters before finally earning consistent play time with the Miami Dolphins. Now the outside linebacker is set to become a free agent and he’s in no rush to leave South Beach.
“The Dolphins are the first team that really have given me a real opportunity to go there in a regular season and play and improve and and grow as a player that helps his team,” Bell told the Miami Herald. “I feel like I have a home here. I love it here. I love my coaches. I love the belief and the confidence they have in me. It would be amazing to run it back.”
With Bradley Chubb sidelined for the entire 2024 season and Jaelan Phillips out for all but four games, Bell was called on to play more than 250 defensive snaps — four times more than his first four seasons in the NFL combined.
Bell, 28, made good on those opportunities with three tackles for loss, and a forced fumble on his first ever sack.
Quinton Bell (@quintonjbell) with the cross chop/club/rip
Once Bell gets his inside foot down, he gains leverage with the vertical jump, attacks the blocker’s outside hand with the cross chop/club, steps through/shoulder turns & rips the resetting hand away to clear! #PassRush pic.twitter.com/m2NfCknTVx
— DLineVids (@dlinevids1) November 14, 2024
His 64.8 grade on PFF ranked seventh on the Dolphins defense among players who appeared in at least half the team’s games, and it was higher than the grades of fellow veteran outside linebackers Emmanuel Ogbah and Tyus Bowser.
With Chubb’s future in Miami isn’t certain, for now both he and Phillips are set to return to the team next season. With 2024 draft picks Chop Robinson and Mohamed Kamara also in the mix, there isn’t a ton of room on the depth chart for outside linebackers.
But the Dolphins won’t enter training camp with just four edge rushers and Bell could be a cheap way of retaining an ascending, reliable player with special teams value to boot.