Joique Bell played his college ball in Division II. He went undrafted. He changed teams six times in his first year-and-a-half in the NFL.

And it wasn't because he couldn't run.

Bills tailback Fred Jackson was there for Bell's first NFL training camp. The one where Bell was cut.

"He was a tremendous runner," Jackson said during Super Bowl week in Phoenix. "He's always been a tremendous runner. That's a given."

If Bell could run, why couldn't he stick with the Bills? Or the Eagles, Colts, Eagles (again), and Saints after that?

It was everything else.

Bell's pass-catching and pass-blocking were underdeveloped early in his career. Which is hard to believe given just how good he's been in both areas with the Detroit Lions the past two years.

Bell finished with 322 receiving yards last year, which was third on the team.

And that maturation is part of what's helped Bell develop into the Lions' best tailback.

"He's taken his game to the next level," Jackson said. "Both of those facets -- running screens, or picking up a blitzing linebacker -- he's done a tremendous job with."

Bell rushed for 860 yards and seven touchdowns last season. And circumstance makes those numbers look a whole lot better.

Every starting offensive lineman not named Rob Sims missed time due to injury or suspension. And the tailbacks struggled accordingly.

Detroit finished with just 1,422 rushing yards as a team, its worst output since the winless 2008 season. It ranked 28th overall.

And yet there was Bell, overtaking Reggie Bush as the primary tailback and piling up 547 yards during the second half of the season. He averaged a tidy 4.5 yards per carry during that stretch.

His 860 yards nearly doubled his previous career output (1,064).

"When I'm out there running, I run for my city. I run with a purpose," said Bell, who hails from Benton Harbor, starred down the road at Wayne State University and once worked as an usher at Ford Field.

"I'm not representing only myself, but my community," Bell continued. "Not a lot of people can say that, especially in this league. I'm playing against the best players in the world, at this point, every week. Not only is it a great opportunity, it's a blessing to be able to go out there and represent my community."

Bell has found a home in Detroit, but five years after that first camp with the Bills, still maintains contact with Jackson. They talk/text three or four times a week.

"When I came into the league, I was with Fred," Bell told reporters at Allen Park Middle School last week. "Fred was my mentor. That was like my big brother. He taught me a lot, not just about the game, but life in general."

And while the world is surprised to see the nomadic Bell asserting himself, Jackson isn't at all.

"When he was with us, he was a guy who could make plays," Jackson said. "So to see him to still playing, and having all this success with the Lions, is not a surprise at all."