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Let’s break down the announcement . . .
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport announced the Jets are “in the mix” for Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown, who has asked to be traded.
I have a few thoughts on this.
First off, my view of this story is that Mike Maccagnan is just doing his due diligence. He called Pittsburgh to see what it would cost to trade for Brown. He and his staff are constantly calling teams and having conversations like this about players.
Maccagnan is very thorough with this stuff.
So sometimes when he makes these kind of calls, and it’s leaked by somebody, people think this is legit interest, when it might just be due diligence.
Brown is a tremendous talent, but one of the reasons he got into a fight with Ben Roethlisberger was he has a proclivity to run the wrong routes at times, not always doing what he’s assigned to do.
This would drive Adam Gase crazy.
Gase traded running back Jay Ajayi two years ago because he wasn’t doing what he was assigned to do on certain plays. Gase traded wide receiver Jarvis Landry last year because he didn’t always run the right routes (and other attitude issues).
And those two guys are pretty talented, but it drives Gase nuts when players don’t execute what they’re assigned to do.
So why trade for Brown?
Also, Gase is trying to establish a culture with his new team, so why bring in Brown, who said recently about finding a new team, “I don’t even have to play football if I don’t want. I don’t even need the game. I don’t need to prove nothing to anyone. If they wanna play, they going to play by my rules. If not, I don’t need to play.”
Why would you want a guy in your locker room with this attitude?
Also, do you want a diva receiver, who needs to the ball a lot, getting in their head of your young, developing QB. A prima donna receiver is the last thing Sam Darnold needs now. He needs to learn to go through his progressions better and throw to the open guy, not worry about forcing the ball to a receiver demanding the rock.
Jamal Adams might be lobbying for Brown to join the Jets, but while he’s a terrific player, he doesn’t have a seat at the table.
His job is to play safety for the Jets, not make personnel decisions.
The problem with a player lobbying for their team to sign a player at a certain position, is it can hurt the feelings of the players at that position.
Honestly, the Jets have two starting receivers right now in Robby Anderson (just given a second-round tender) and Quincy Enunwa, who got a nice new contract at the end of last season.
I’m not saying the Jets aren’t going to add another wideout in free agency and/or the draft, but they really like Anderson and Enunwa.
Brown to the Jets doesn’t make a lot of sense.
And the Steelers want a first-round pick for him, and the Jets aren’t going to do that.
March 5, 2019
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