An important turning point

The Jets have made some moves so far, but it’s a move another team . . .

. . . made that might be just as significant.

NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo announced that Buster Skrine is signing with the Chicago Bears.

I don’t want people to view what I’m writing at flippant and disrespectful; just a powerful dose of reality.

This player, whether he was starting or playing the nickel spot, struggled his four years with the Jets. Of course he had some positive moments, but the lion’s share of his work was rife with inconsistency.

It was never a lack of effort or toughness, but an entirely different set of problems.

And this is strictly football, not personal, because he’s a good guy. But this is what we witnessed too much over the last four years:

His eyes and instincts tended to lead to some hesitation and the need to play catch-up. He was often a tick late reading and reacting. He tended to react more than anticipate. He was too grabby and penalty-prone. He had a tendency to got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, often biting on double moves.

I have to be honest, I never thought he would make it to the fourth year of his four-year contract, based on what we saw the first three seasons.

I do think Mike Maccagnan has grown on the job. A fifth-round pick for Oakland Raiders guard Kelechi Osemele and a sixth-round pick could be a masterstroke. This guy is a human forklift, a mountain of a man, with great feet, who gets a lot of push in the running game. There is a little risk here because he was banged up last year, but nothing career-threatening. The Baltimore Ravens didn’t want to lose him when he left as a free agent in 2017 but didn’t have the cap space to sign him. This move reminds me of the Henry Anderson trade of last year.

Also signing slot WR Jamison Crowder could be a huge move for the Jets. With his tremendous short-area quickness, he wins quickly, getting open fast, which will really help Sam Darnold.

So I do think Maccagnan has moved up the growth curve as a GM.

But his handling of Skrine wasn’t some of his best work.

First he overpaid him, and then refused to move-on, after years two or three, when the players was too often impacting games in a negative fashion – too many plays given up in coverage and too many penalties.

I think one of the issues here is a top Jets executive being too close to the agency that represents Skrine. I’m sorry to be a little vague here, but I think you get the idea.

And this led to another issue – somewhat suspect press coverage of this player by a lot of reporters.

Two things led to this – the agency that represents him is very media-friendly, very helpful to reporters, and you know how this works – if you are too critical of players represented by media-friendly firm, they aren’t going to give you scoops.

Also, the player is very, very media-friendly. You rip the player, good chance this cooperation dips.

This article wasn’t easy to write, but important.

Good for Skrine and his agents to land another contract for the player.

Good for the Jets to finally move on from a super-tough cornerback who was a willing tackler and blitzer, but struggled in perhaps the most important part of the job.

March 11, 2019

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