Content available exclusively for subscribers
Headline – “Jets growing desperate at cornerback.”
Is that true? Is it true that Rex Ryan is pissed?
Let’s take a closer look.
That headline appeared on NFL.com.
The media has had no access to the Jets since the end of the season, aside from press conferences at the combine, which were a colossal waste of time.
I’m not complaining, just stating a fact. I don’t complain about access. Whatever we get is fine with me. I’m not into this entitlement stuff.
There no way that the writer at NFL.com, behind that headline, knows that the Jets are in desperation mode.
I just find it strange that the league’s own website roughs up the Jets so much. Woody Johnson is one of 32 NFL owners. He owns a piece of that website.
But you know what, that is Woody’s issue. Perhaps he’s such a believer in the First Amendment, he doesn’t want to stop the onslaught.
But getting back to the matter at hand.
After the Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie signed with the Giants, Manish Mehta quoted a friend of the Jets head coach saying, “Rex is pissed.”
I’m sorry, I find that hard to believe.
Rex and John Idzik are in this together.
The GM gave him a year to prove himself, liked what he saw, kept the coach, and added a year to his contract.
They get along very well.
If Rex truly told someone he’s “pissed,” he would flat-out be stabbing Idzik in the back, right after the guy retained him, and added a year and more money to his contract? He would be making his boss look foolish.
How would that make any sense?
These guys are in lockstep. They meet endlessly.
Idzik isn’t operating on an island. While he has final say on player personnel, he leans on Rex a great deal. Rex has a tremendous amount of influence on the personnel decisions.
When the team offered DRC a one-year contract for $6 million, Rex had heavy input.
Considering DRC said last season, “I always tell [teammates]. They always think I be joking, but I always just say it might be my last go-round.”
He said he would consider retirement if the Broncos won the Super Bowl.
Rodgers-Cromartie has talked about wanting to be a high school guidance counselor.
If I’m the GM of a team offering this guy a contract, based on this statement, a one-year deal is the best way to go.
Former Buffalo Bills coach Marv Levy once said, “Once you start talking about retirement, you are already retired.”
Once again, Idzik didn’t make that offer to Rodgers-Cromartie in a vacuum. He talked to Rex quite a bit.
So to say Rex “was pissed’ is something I find hard to believe.
Because if Rex was telling friends that, he would be undercutting his boss – playing the “good cop, bad cop” game that bosses (and parents) hate.
So in closing, being around the scene as much as I am, I don’t buy for one second that Rex is telling people he’s “pissed.”
If you want to know something he’s pissed about, and I know this for sure, because I got it from an assistant coach – he’s pissed the former GM didn’t lock-up Darrelle Revis long-term in 2010 – give him a 10-year deal. If they did that, he’d still be a Jet, and we wouldn’t even be talking about Rodgers-Cromartie.
March 18, 2014
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Wednesday.