Jason Bell may have won the Super Bowl with the New York Giants in 2007, but his career-ending back injury put a stop to what could have been the greatest moment in his NFL career. The former defensive back, originally picked up as an undrafted agent by the Dallas Cowboys, spent six seasons in the league – including stints at the Houston Texans and the Giants.

Even though he won a Lombardi trophy in New York alongside the likes of Eli Manning, Michael Strahan and Plaxico Burress, the ex-NFL star confessed that the championship game was the lowest point of his career. Speaking exclusively to the Express, Bell explained how he sat on the sidelines watching his team conquer one of the goliaths of American football – but deep down he realised his career was over due to a back injury. He said: “The low would probably be when I was injured and watching my team win the Super Bowl.

“That was quite difficult. I was there, and I knew my career was over. I was watching the game live in Arizona, and I saw them score the final go-ahead touchdown. I stood up to cheer. I was happy for everybody.

“I remember watching Osi [Umenyiora] and my boy Antonio Pierce and [Michael] Strahan just out there. Plaxico Burress had caught the ball and all of a sudden, I sat down in my seat, and just, I felt it was a dark moment because I wanted to be out there with them and I feel like I should have.

“But I overcame that and then celebrated their victory and have been happy for it ever since. I’m glad with everything that happened because of that. So, yeah, but those are, I remember those two things – the beginning and the end.”

It wasn’t all doom and gloom for the special teams expert, however, as Bell’s journey through the NFL was unique in comparison to some others. After going undrafted, the defensive back was snapped up by the Cowboys, before heading to Texas a year later and stamping his mark as one of the elite players across a variety of areas.

It was his initial dive into the NFL that Bell hails as his best moment, admitting he had to really “fight” for the right to be in the league. He said: “Oh man – biggest high would probably be… First of all, it’s been a journey. Sometimes I randomly think about things that have happened and I’m just in awe and overwhelmed by the luck that I had and it took.

“So I’d say the biggest high would probably be finally making the Dallas Cowboys, that first year when it was quite difficult. I was at the bottom of the roster when I came in to training camp and to finally be announced as one of the 53 on the roster.

“That was huge for me. I’d overcome an injury in college that kind of, that held me back; I would have been drafted probably really high if it wasn’t for that. But, you know, I had to really fight and grind to make it. And once I did, that was as big as it got for me.”

Bell made plenty of lifelong friends on his trip through the NFL too, highlighting his “big guy” group from the Giants as people he will remain close with for life. He added: “I have several that I’ll speak to for the rest of my life. When I got to New York, I’m very close with that team because Antonio Pierce, I grew up with him.

“So when I got to the Giants, I knew immediately who I was going to be friends with, because he basically told me. He was like, ‘This guy’s cool. This guy’s cool. You’re gonna hang out with them,’ and that’s how it was.

“So, lifelong friends, I mean, Osi obviously, Antonio Pierce, Michael Strahan, a guy named Carlos Edmonds, who played like 15 years at linebacker. Those are the guys from the Giants and they’re all defensive guys, linebackers and defensive ends. I hung out with the big dudes because I talked so much craziness. I needed, like, security, and that’s what I felt like they were. So those guys were lifelong friends.”

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