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Joe Douglas can’t fall into the trap some of his predecessor’s did.
Talking about letting public pressure impact when, and perhaps how much, you pay a player.
This happened with Darrelle Revis and Mo Wilkerson in the past, when former regimes paid megabucks to the players, before they had to, due to intense pressure from the agent and the media.
Douglas can’t make the mistake. In other words, he can’t let external forces impact his decision-making.
Hey, if he decides to go ahead and pay Adams, and perhaps give him the deal Eddie Jackson got in Chicago, then go for it. Jackson is also entering his fourth year ,and they are both two-time Pro Bowlers. This deal makes sense for Adams.
The point here is that Douglas needs to stick to his plan, and his budget, and not let any outsiders impact that. He can’t govern by public opinion polls.
Douglas had his meddle tested today by the reporter, Manish Mehta, who was really going after the GM, almost like he was an advocate for the Adams’ camp. Mehta is clearly of the opinion that Adams is best player on the Jets, and needs to be paid accordingly, right now. Adams has two years left on his current contract, the last year for the actual deal, and the fifth-year option, which the Jets will likely pick up.
Here is one question from Mehta:
“As far as Jamal, do you believe in a meritocracy, and should he be the highest paid player on the team,” Mehta asked.
“I’m not even going to touch that one,” Douglas said.
This begs the question – Should a safety be the highest paid player on any football team?
This isn’t to say that Adams shouldn’t paid, but does a championship formula include a safety getting paid a king’s ransom? Some GM’s and coaches don’t love paying this position and feel you can find players at the safety spots who don’t make megabucks, but who can get the job done. A perfect example is the pair in Buffalo of Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde. They have done terrific work for Sean McDermott the last three years. Each makes good money, not great.
My point is some teams feel that you can get by with solid safety tandem like Poyer/Hyde without backing up a Brink’s truck. Douglas has not made his safety pay philosophy public, but it’s highly unlikely he believes a safety should be the highest paid player on the team, which is what Mehta is calling for.
Mehta (and Rich Cimini) both accused Douglas of “hedging” today – not fully committing to Adams long-term future with the team. Mehta said it to him on the conference call and Cimini wrote it. Douglas disagrees with this premise.
“I don’t view it as a hedge, I view it as doing my job,” Douglas said.
That doesn’t mean Adams won’t get paid, but it might not be exactly when he wants to get paid, and exactly what he wants to get paid.
And Douglas didn’t rule out trading Adams.
“I have to do what’s in the best interest of the team,” Douglas said.
Don’t take that the wrong way. He’s not looking to ship Adams out of town, but if this gets real ugly, and his demands are way beyond what the Jets are willing to pay, trading him might be an option.
This is all up to Douglas. He controls personnel, not Adam Gase or Gregg Williams.
He will make the call here.
Does he want to pay big bucks to a safety who primarily plays in the box. I’m not calling him a “box safety,” just saying he’s more in the box than he’s in space. He has just two picks in three years. He’s superb against the run and a very good blitzer. The leadership angle is a little overrated. I will get into this later this week.
Whatever Douglas does, he should not let anyone outside the building influence him. This kind of pandering got the Jets in trouble in the past.
April 20, 2020
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