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The “story” that keeps on giving . . .
The click-bait virtuoso struck again.
And he truly is a click-bait savant.
There is zero sarcasm at work here.
One of the best I’ve ever seen at producing click-bait.
“Report: Jets have no plans’ to trade Leonard Williams.”
That headline was on Pro Football Talk, and that is one of the keys to his success. That is one of the most heavily-trafficked NFL websites, and the publisher loves this writer, and he links to most of his scoops, and there are many.
This story is now being linked to all over the internet.
The click-bait genius is with the Daily News. There are few better.
“It would be stupid” to trade the Williams this off-season, according to one Jets source, according to the story.
It’s amazing how many times this guy quotes “Jets sources,” far more than any other beat writer. So if you are buying what he’s selling, you have to value his work a lot more than any other Jets beat writer. He has to be your go-go guy, right? Based on the amount of times he quotes “Jets sources,” he’s got to be considered the preeminent Jets’ beat writer, there is no way around it.
These “Jets sources” can’t be verified. I can’t sit here at tell you for sure they don’t exist. I’m just saying they can’t be verified by anybody who doesn’t have access to his phone records.
There could be some poetic license at work here as to what some consider at “Jets source,” compared to what others consider a “Jets source.”
But as for this Williams story, there’s no story here.
I had a vague tweet before and it was based on this Williams’ blockbuster.
“If you have a scoop shooting down a fake story that was never going to happen, does that qualify as a scoop?” I tweeted.
I don’t think the Jets were ever thinking of trading Williams. To me, this was a media creation.
The Jets’ roster isn’t loaded with top-shelf talent yet. This guy is one of their most talented player. Why would they dump him?
Some of his media critics have limited football knowledge.
They were obsessed with his sack total, and obsessed might be an understatement.
I’m there almost every day during training camp and the season, and I lost track of how many times, Williams, Todd Bowles or Kacy Rodgers were asked about this player’s sack total.
Williams is a better man than I am. He never lost his composure with the myriad, ill-conceived sack questions. I would have told a couple of these guys to pound sand.
First of all, he wasn’t a big sack guy at USC, so why would you expect that with the Jets?
Secondly, he’s played 3-4 defensive end his first four years with the Jets. It’s not a big sack position.
Williams is very disruptive and gets a lot of QB pressures which coaches will tell you are just as important as sacks. I was just reading something on free agent defensive end Brandon Graham (Eagles), who doesn’t have gaudy sack totals, but the observer said he has a ton of QB pressures.
Tony Romo said something early in 2017 about Williams that was spot-on. The Jets lack of dynamic OLB edge-rushers led to a lot of double-teams on Williams. If the Jets had game-wrecking outside linebackers, Williams would probably be a Pro Bowl regular. Also, having a raw rookie, who wasn’t ready, starting at the other end spot for three months, also hurt Williams.
But I’m not here to make excuses Williams.
I’m here to say he’s a very good player, who the Jets’ brass likes a great deal, and he was never going to be traded.
So this scoop actually was shooting down a non-story.
February 5, 2019
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