Content available exclusively for subscribers
It’s hard to say what is going to happen over the next few days, but one of the New York Jets’ moves today was frivolous and tone-deaf . . .
Saturday was a huge day for safety Rontez Miles.
He finally made the Jets’ regular roster, something he has been trying to do since 2013.
“Thanks to all the fans my friends and family for the support!!!! Blessed and Honored to be a #jet #GangGreen #freedom.” – he tweeted yesterday.
His elation lasted 24 hours. Today, he was waived to make room for a waiver claim – safety Ronald Martin, who was in camp with the Seattle Seahawk.
Here is my issue with this move.
They replaced one box safety with another.
True Martin is a little bigger than Miles. Martin is 6-2, 220. Miles is 6-0, 203. Both run around 4.6.
Both are big-time hitters who do their best work around the line.
Miles played his heart out this summer, throwing his body around, in games and practice, making his presence known.
His teammates love the guy. He plays with so much toughness and determination, his approach is infectious. When he made the roster, many teammates seemed pumped.
He’s the kind of guy you root for. He overcame so much in his life. Mother a crack addict, bother in jail.
He earned a roster spot.
And he got one.
For 24 hours.
Look, if the Jets had claimed another safety who was better in coverage, and had better range than Miles, so be it.
But they claimed another box safety, cut by a Seattle team in need of a safety with Kam Chancellor on the trading block. Heck, yesterday the Seahawks traded a fifth round pick to the Kansas City Chiefs for Kelcie McCray.
Like I said, things can change over the next few days, perhaps Martin is moved to the practice squad and Miles is brought back, but this move seems frivolous to me, and somewhat tone deaf to the locker room.
No, you don’t consult players on personnel move, but you need to have your finger on the pulse of the locker room.
Miles earned a spot. The players know it. They love him.
Don’t bounce him for another box safety.
Unnecessary . . .
The Jets took a calculated risk with wide receiver Chris Owusu and it worked out fine for them.
Owusu had a great summer – consistently getting open and catching everything in sight. It doesn’t hurt that he has world class speed and is extremely bright (he picks things up very quickly).
The Jets cut him yesterday, even though he clearly earned a spot.
They knew other teams would be hesitant to claim him with his concussion history – three at Stanford and one this summer in Jets training camp.
While this is unfortunate, it also helped the Jets put him on ice for 24 hours so they could make some other moves. And today they put Dee Milliner on short-term IR, and brought Owusu back.
I’m not making light of concussions, but his concussion history allowed the Jets to handle Owusu recklessly this weekend . . .
September 6, 2015
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Monday.