Oklahoma football: Before Baker and Kyler there was the ‘Belldozer’
By Chip Rouse
As far as former Oklahoma football quarterbacks go, the NFL spotlight is shining full force these days on Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray, but another former Sooner QB is toiling well under the radar in hopes of keeping his NFL career alive.
Mayfield’s rookie season as the No. 1 pick of the Cleveland Browns has been well documented. The 2017 Heisman Trophy winner sparked a turnaround in Cleveland that resulted in a seven-win turnaround from a winless 2017 Browns’ season.
Murray has yet to throw a single pass or gain a single yard in an official NFL game, but he is playing in an Air Raid offense in Arizona with which he is the probably most familiar of anyone in the Cardinals’ organization other that first-year head coach Kliff Kingsbury (formerly of Texas Tech). All eyes are going to be on the athletic Murray to see if he can live up to the expectations that warranted his becoming the second consecutive Oklahoma quarterback to go No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft.
The M&M boys of Oklahoma football are the exception to the rule, though, in terms of Sooner QBs riding into the NFL in a golden chariot.
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Sam Bradford may have set the bar for Sooner QBs of the new millennium when he was drafted No. 1 overall in 2010, by the St. Louis Rams. The native son of Oklahoma City started out fairly strong, earning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in his first season after signing what at the time was an unprecedented $78 million rookie contract with $50 million guaranteed. Unfortunately, injuries have plagued Bradford, at one time considered the greatest Oklahoma quarterback of all-time, throughout his nine-year NFL career (he is currently out of football after being released by the Arizona Cardinals last November).
Blake Bell, who at Oklahoma acquired the moniker the “Belldozer,” in fun reference to his tough-to-bring-down, short-yardage, earth-moving mastery, was an Oklahoma quarterback who faced reality head on and found another way to make it to the NFL. Bell was recruited by the Sooners as a quarterback.
Bell, who played his high school ball at Bishop Carroll High School in Wichita, less than 200 miles from the Oklahoma campus, is in his fifth season and third team in the NFL, trying to earn a spot with the Kansas City Chiefs as a free agent.
The one-time Sooner quarterback is battling to earn a roster spot with the Chiefs as a backup to All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce.
A four-star recruit in a top-10 class that also included such top talent as WR Kenny Stills, S Tony Jefferson, DB Aaron Colvin and RB Brennan Clay, Bell was redshirted at OU as a true freshman, and the next two seasons played only sparingly behind QB Landry Jones other than in short-yardage power packages.
Bell did not get his first real opportunity to play quarterback for the Sooners until his redshirt junior campaign in 2013, but even then, he shared the QB duties with redshirt freshman Trevor Knight. The Belldozer started eight games at quarterback that season, completing 60 percent of his passes for 1,648 yards and 12 touchdowns, including four games with multiple TD tosses.
At the end of the 2013 season, Bell made a difficult career decision, but one that in hindsight ended up extending his opportunity to play football beyond the college level. He agreed to switch from quarterback to tight end, a decision that proved to be extremely prudent.
The NFL San Francisco 49ers were impressed enough with Bell’size (6-foot, 6 inches, 250 pounds), strength and upside as a tight end to select him in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL Draft, the 117th pick overall and the fifth tight end taken in that draft.
The converted OU tight end played two seasons with San Francisco. In September 2017, Bell was acquired by the Minnesota Vikings off waivers from the 49ers. In October 2018, he signed as a free agent with the Jacksonville Jaguars, was picked up by the Chiefs in April.
In two preseason games with the Chiefs, Bell has been targeted six times, credited with four receptions for 70 yards. He also fumbled after the catch on a potential scoring drive in a preseason loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday.
We won’t know whether the Belldozer will make the August 31 cutdown with the Chiefs, but with the skills and abilities he continues to demonstrate, he should be able to land a spot with another NFL team this season, if not the Chiefs.