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When you look at the situation closely, the decisions that were made didn’t necessarily create a Chicken Little situation.
The New York Jets have been destroyed for their purge of a number of expensive veterans from their roster this off-season.
Some have accused them of tanking.
The New York Post asked some Jets season-ticket holders in a Sunday story – “What do you think of the Jets’ current plan to get rid of older, expensive players and sacrifice the 2017 season in order to get a high pick in 2018?”
The Post asked this question like it’s a fact. Maybe they know something we don’t know.
We will see how this turns out.
But honestly, if you do a cost benefit analysis of the Jets’ off-season roster purge, for the most part, it makes a lot of sense.
First of all, the Jets went 5-11 last year, and were blown out six times.
You should never get blown out six times in a league set up for competitive balance.
In other words, the Jets were pretty bad last year.
So why is it a big deal that got rid of some older veterans with bloated salaries?
All the money they were spending on these cats didn’t lead to very positive result last season.
Center Nick Mangold was a heck of a player for the Jets, but had issues staying healthy the last two years with neck and ankle issues. Mangold, who is 33, was scheduled to make $6.1 million this year, and his release cleared $9.1 million in cap space. And the Jets have a reliable replacement for him in Wesley Johnson.
The Jets released two injury-prone offensive tackles – Ryan Clady and Breno Giacomini. Clady’s release cleared $10 million in cap space, and Giacomini freed up $4.5 million.
The Jets released David Harris, who was scheduled to make $6.5 million this season. That is too much money for a run-stuffing linebacker who is a liability in coverage. Obviously, Harris contract situation should have been dealt with in February-March, but from a cost benefit analysis standpoint, you can make a strong argument releasing the linebacker made sense.
The last cut from the purge was Eric Decker, whose release cleared $7.25 in cap space. That is too much money for a 30-year-old receiver coming off two surgeries. The money he got from Tennessee is more commensurate with what he should be making now – $4 million.
The Darrelle Revis release doesn’t help the Jets much with the cap. He collected his entire $39 million guarantee for two years of substandard work. But getting rid of him will be good for the Jets on the field and in the locker room. He was a drag on the 2016 Jets. When your highest paid player plays that poorly, and he makes excuses, it’s really bad for your football culture.
Look, I have no idea how the Jets will do this year.
But the roster purse, when you look at it closely, isn’t that big of a deal, and most of the decisions were pragmatic.
June 28, 2017
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