Vonn Bell

Vonn Christian Bell (born December 12, 1994) is an American professional football safety who currently serves as the safeties coach for the Colorado Buffaloes. He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes and was selected by the New Orleans Saints in the second round of the 2016 NFL draft. He also played for the Cincinnati Bengals and Carolina Panthers.

Bell's first two years of high school were at Chattanooga Central High School in Harrison, Tennessee, where he received all district honors. Bell then attended Ridgeland High School in Rossville, Georgia. In Bell's senior year he led Ridgeland to the Georgia class AAAA state championship game but lost to Sandy Creek 41–10. He was rated by both Rivals.com and Scout.com as a five-star recruit and was ranked the number two safety in the country. Bell was rated as a five-star recruit by 247Sports and a high four-star by ESPN, who rated him as the 50th best player overall in the nation regardless of position. Bell was selected to play in the 2013 Under Armour All-American game. On February 6, 2013, he committed to Ohio State University.

Bell played in all 13 games as a backup his freshman season in 2013, but made his first career start on January 3, 2014, in the Discover Orange Bowl where he recorded his first collegiate interception. Bell became a full-time starter for the Buckeyes his sophomore season in 2014. He played in all 15 games recording 91 tackles and a conference-leading six interceptions. In the 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship victory over Oregon, he recorded six tackles and a sack.

Bell attended the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana, but opted to skip the combine drills due to a hamstring injury. He chose to only meet with team representatives and had his measurements and weight taken. On March 11, 2016, he attended Ohio State's pro day and performed the 40-yard dash, 20-yard dash, 10-yard dash, and vertical jump for scouts and team representatives. He also attended private workouts and visits with multiple teams, including the Minnesota Vikings, Buffalo Bills, Atlanta Falcons, Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Tennessee Titans among others. Bell was projected to be a second round pick by NFL draft experts and scouts. He was ranked the second best safety prospect in the draft by NFL analyst Mike Mayock and ESPN, the third best strong safety by DraftScout.com, and was ranked the 11th best defensive back by Sports Illustrated.

The New Orleans Saints selected Bell in the second round (61st overall) of the 2016 NFL draft. In order to secure their ability to draft Bell, the New Orleans Saints traded their 2016 third-round (78th overall) and fourth-round (112th overall) selections to the New England Patriots in exchange for the second round (61st overall) selection used to draft Bell. The New England Patriots went on to use the selections acquired to draft NC State's Joe Thuney (78th overall) and Georgia's Malcolm Mitchell (112th overall). He was the fourth safety selected in 2016.

On May 10, 2016, the New Orleans Saints signed Bell to a four–year, $3.97 million contract that includes an initial signing bonus of $1.08 million.

Throughout training camp, Bell competed to be the starting free safety against veteran Jairus Byrd. He joined a group of established veteran safeties, including Jairus Byrd, Kenny Vaccaro, and Roman Harper. Head coach Sean Payton named Bell a backup safety to start the regular season, behind starters Jairus Byrd and Kenny Vaccaro.

On September 9, 2016, Bell made his professional regular season debut in the New Orleans Saints' home-opening 35–34 loss against the Oakland Raiders. The following week, he earned his first career start as a nickelback and recorded a season-high nine combined tackles (seven solo) during a 16–13 road loss against the New York Giants in Week 2. Bell made his first NFL tackle on wide receiver Sterling Shepard after Shepard caught a five-yard pass on the Giants' first offensive snap. During Week 9, Bell recorded six combined tackles and was credited with half a sack during a 41–23 road victory over the San Francisco 49ers. He made his first sack with teammate Cameron Jordan, as they tackled Colin Kaepernick for a five-yard loss in the third quarter. In Week 15, Bell tied his season-high of nine combined tackles (seven solo) and forced a fumble in a 48–41 victory at the Arizona Cardinals. He finished his rookie season in 2016 with a total of 87 combined tackles (61 solo), four pass deflections, two forced fumbles, and a sack in 16 games and 14 starts. He was inconsistent throughout his rookie season and supplanted Byrd at free safety for a brief period at the beginning of the season before losing the role due to issues in pass coverage. He started two games at free safety and started 12 as either a nickel back in Dennis Allen's third-safety technique.