Gase: Bell liking tweets calling for trade 'is what it is'

New York Jets head coach Adam Gase's relationship with Le'Veon Bell appears to be on the rocks again.

Following Bell's first game since a Week 1 injury, the running back "liked" several tweets that called for him to be traded or for his role to be expanded after the Jets fell to 0-5 with their loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

Gase said on Monday he's yet to speak to Bell about his social media activity, and though he understands his player's frustration, he wishes those issues would remain in-house.

"It is what it is. I know he's frustrated we haven't won," said Gase, according to Ralph Vacchiano of SNY. "It wasn't necessarily the plan, not targeting him in the passing game. It ended up being that way with how they were playing us."

He added: "I hate that's the route we go with all this instead of just talking to me about it, but that seems to be the ways guys want to do it nowadays."

Bell was targeted just once in the 30-10 defeat to Arizona despite his strong history of production as a pass-catcher.

The former Pittsburgh Steelers standout carried the ball 13 times for 60 yards (4.6 average), but Gase still split the backfield workload - Frank Gore, who started while Bell was out, received nine carries for 30 yards (3.3 average), and Braxton Berrios and Trevon Wesco each had one rush.

Rumors of issues between Gase and Bell have run rampant since the player joined the Jets last season.

Bell and Gase both underachieved in their New York debuts in 2019. The runner produced career lows of 3.2 yards per carry and three rushing touchdowns amid a fourth straight losing campaign for the AFC East club.