Confusing Times

Madison, New Jersey – The public hears about these things, and they wonder what to believe and what not to believe. It’s tough these days.

Somebody writes something that is considered a scoop. It’s then linked to by aggregation websites, like Pro Football Talk, and it becomes a national story.

And the writer gets a lot of publicity in NFL media circles. The sports editor is thrilled. A lot of clicks, a lot of hits on their website.

In today’s Daily News, Manish Mehta wrote a story that got a lot of attention.

“The Daily News has learned that teams have made trade inquiries about the [Dee Milliner] in the wake of the cornerback upgrades,” wrote Mehta. “However, the Jets have told interested teams that Milliner isn’t available at a drastically discounted price . . . yet, according to sources.”

Let’s break this down.

First of all, teams talk all the time, discussing possible trades of current players, draft day trades, all kinds of different scenarios. It’s called “doing your job.”

Just like working out players, like the Jets did with Josh Freeman, as we reported here first.

As a personnel department, it’s important to turn over every stone looking for players.

So often reporters make these standard operating procedures into major news stories. It’s just the way it is. I’m not going to be too critical of this. That would be chasing windmills.

So if a team called the Jets, and asked if Milliner would be available now that Gang Green added three corners in free agency, is that a big deal? Probably not.

They are just doing their jobs.

But you know what, if a team did consider trading for him now, they are idiots. The guy is still rehabbing a torn Achilles, a tedious rehab.

Also, why would the Jets do this from a salary cap standpoint?

And according to overthecap.com, “Milliner, who has a $585,000 base salary in the third year of his four-year rookie contract, will count $3.45 million against the 2015 salary cap. The Jets will have $3.8 million in dead money if he’s traded.”

So why would they do it?

Keep in mind, the Jets just signed two veteran cornerbacks with a lot of wear-and-tear, Darrelle Revis who will be 30 this season, and Antonio Cromartie is 31.

Cornerbacks gets banged up a lot. You need a lot of depth there.

Perhaps Milliner can leave the injury bug in the past when he comes back. When you cut to the chase, we are talking about a player who has had two significant surgeries – labrum surgery and Achilles surgery, and he’s really young. We all know when you are 23, you heal better then, when you are let’s say, 38.

Mehta went on to write, “Three front-office executives of cornerback-needy teams told The News that Milliner’s unclear health status following his latest setback coupled with a $971,000 preseason roster bonus will make it virtually impossible for Maccagnan to trade him unless he’s willing to take a mid- to late- round pick in return.

To be able to reach out to three front-office executives is pretty darn impressive for a guy who hasn’t been covering the NFL for that long. It’s not easy to do.

Let me just say this, and I’m not picking on Mehta, but talking about the entire media landscape. If a writer says he has three, four sources, whatever, in a story, there is no way to check it. And a lot of these guys know that. So go for it.

To me, this story, isn’t big news.

March 18, 2015

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