Browns Wide Receiver Announces Sudden Retirement

The Cleveland Browns have lost one of their playmakers to a surprise retirement.

The Cleveland Browns are now down one of their playmakers after wide receiver David Bell announced his surprise retirement on Tuesday.

“Several months ago, I was blindsided by an off-field injury that was beyond my control, which put my football future in jeopardy. After consulting with medical experts and praying, I accept that continuing to play football would literally risk life and limb,” Bell posted on X. “Although it is the last thing I would otherwise want to do, with a heavy heart I am announcing my retirement.”

Thank You Cleveland 🤞🏾🤎 pic.twitter.com/0Lp084Mvik

— David Bell (@DB3LL) October 14, 2025

Bell, 24, was placed on the non-football injury list to open training camp. However, it’s been a while since he last played, which came in Week 2 of the 2024 season, when he suffered a season-ending hip injury.

Before Bell suffered his injury, he flashed just why the Browns wanted to draft him. As a rookie, he recorded 24 catches for 214 yards. Then in 2023, he had 14 receptions for 167 yards and a career-high three touchdowns.

Cleveland selected Bell in the third-round of the 2022 NFL Draft out of Purdue, where he racked up 232 catches for 2,946 yards and 21 touchdowns from 2019-21.

Bell became a starter at wide receiver as a true freshman and was named the Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Week four times as well as the Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

He was then named the Big Ten co-Offensive Player of the Week for the first week of his sophomore season and first-team All-Big Ten following the team’s COVID-19-shortened 2020 season.

As a junior, Bell repeated as a first-team All-Big Ten selection and was named as a Consensus All-American for 2021. Unfortunately, he will never find out what he was capable of at the next level.

With Bell officially stepping away from football, the Browns will now have to rely even more on wide receivers Jerry Jeudy, Jamari Thrash, Isaiah Bond and Malachi Corley, especially with veteran Cedric Tillman on injured reserve.

This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Browns Wide Receiver Announces Sudden Retirement