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Florham Park – Mike Maccagnan didn’t say many newsworthy things at the end of the day, but there were certainly a few tidbits to glean from his press briefing today.
When asked about the firing of special team’s coach Bobby April, Maccagnan said, “He (Todd) made a difficult decision, but I think he made the right decision.”
The fact that the said, “he made the right decision,” is pretty strong.
Usually, the rhetoric isn’t that direct after firings. They will say something like, “We thank Bobby for the job he did, but we have decided to do into a different direction.”
J.P. Pelzman asked him if his personnel department did a poor job of supplying the special teams with enough talent.
He kind of tap-danced on that one.
Maccagnan does deserve some blame on that front. We have been over that many times.
Perhaps bringing in a different special team’s coach is the way to go, but Maccagnan also needs to bring in better players. Was getting a bona fide kick returner last season too much to ask?
“They lost three games where special teams played up a huge part in three losses. Philadelphia and both Buffalo game. Is that all Bobby April?” one writer said today to me.
As for signing key free agents, he often used the expression, “in a perfect world” when talking about them. That kind of downplays the expectations.
“In a perfect world, we would like very much to have Damon back in the organization,” Maccagnan said about Damon Harrison.
Well a league a salary cap is far from a “perfect world” in the sports’ universe, so I would say Harrison coming back is a long shot.
Even with the leg injury, the re-signing of Mo Wilkerson (who Maccagnan thinks could be back for training camp) is their top priority.
And while they like Harrison a lot, with Wilkerson likely staying put, and Leonard Williams and Sheldon Richardson under contract, it’s going to be hard for the Jets to keep Harrison, unless he doesn’t draw a lot of interest in the open market, and they can get him cheap. That likely isn’t going to be the case.
Listening to him speak, it sounds like their top priority this off-season is taking care of their own (Wilkerson, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Chris Ivory the top candidates), and they aren’t going to go crazy on the open market like last year.
These three negotiations are all going to be tricky.
Wilkerson has a broken leg, Fitzpatrick has only had one true standout season in the NFL (you can’t overdue deals with one-year wonders) and Ivory has issues with pulled muscles.
Maccagnan better double his Starbucks intake – these are going to be protracted talks, especially with Mo and Ryan, for “Mr. Coffee” and chief negotiator Jackie Davidson.
This press conference was somewhat non-eventful. The most interesting moment might have been when a reporter kind of lashed out of him and said something to the effect, “Are you going to say anything we can use?”
He went on to explain that 31 other teams want to know what their plans are, so he doesn’t like to tip his hand.
Personally, I don’t judge coaches, players and GM’s by their press conferences, but by their actions.
Let’s see how he does this off-season.
And this off-season is of great import to his program.
January 14, 2016
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