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This all-important Power Ranking ended with this thought . . .
“By the way, the Jets would be fools to trade Adams—at least now. Say some good team offers first and third-round picks for Adams, which would be a premium price for a safety,” wrote Peter King. “Answer this question, Jets fans: Would you get rid of your best player for the 26th and 90th picks in next year’s draft? I wouldn’t.”
This was the final paragraph of sports/political columnist Peter King’s latest NFL Power Rankings. The Jets were ranked 28th out of 32 NFL teams.
I am on the record for how ridiculous I think Power Rankings are, but understand why writers do them. They garner traffic, a lot of traffic.
Why would you take something off the menu that is selling?
While I don’t give a rat’s behind about Power Rankings since this isn’t college football, I will just say that if the Jets’ offensive line can come together quickly, this ranking is probably too low. Joe Douglas worked very hard adding the requisite parts to improve the Jets’ front five, but now it’s just a matter of them coming together, which could be a challenge due to no on-field work this off-season.
If they do gel quickly, I believe the Jets could be a middle of the pack NFL team, perhaps in the middle teens.
But I digress. Today is about getting into what King opined about Adams messy contract situation.
You could make a strong argument the Jets would not be “fools” to trade Adams for first- and third- round picks. Not at all. That is a heck of a package for a (mostly) box safety. Not saying Adams can’t cover, but he’s a good, not great, cover guy.
“Adams is at his best when he’s playing near the line of scrimmage,” former NFL scout Daniel Jeremiah said before the 2017 draft.
And clearly Gregg Williams feels the same way.
“Gregg Williams deserves a ton of credit for how he utilized (Adams) -playing him close to the line and attacking him,” said former NFL GM Michael Lombardi.
Lombardi has a lot of coach and GM sources around the league, and obviously some with the Jets. He keeps saying on his podcast and VISN show that Williams did a great job using Adams the right way.
To me, this quote from Lombardi is code for some coverage limitations with the player.
“Answer this question, Jets fans: Would you get rid of your best player for the 26th and 90th picks in next year’s draft? I wouldn’t,” King wrote.
Teams probably shouldn’t make decisions on fan polling. That got some former Jets executives, and a “former” owner, in trouble.
Good GM’s don’t make decisions based on public opinion polls.
As Marv Levy liked to say, “If you make decisions based on the public, you will end up sitting with them.”
Joe Douglas keeps saying that he needs to do “what is in the best interest of the New York Jets.”
Some would argue you shouldn’t break the bank on a safety who plays a lot in the box.
He’s not a safety who can necessarily cover receivers in the slot. That isn’t his game. He didn’t have 10 picks in his first three years like Chicago’s Eddie Jackson, who just got paid pretty well.
Jets picked a safety in the third round – Ashtyn Davis.
“His versatility really stands out – he can play free safety, strong safety, he can play corner, he can play nickel,” said Jets assistant GM Rex Hogan after the pick.
So they have somebody who can perhaps fill the position if another team blows them away with a trade offer for Adams.
So if this contract dispute gets really ugly, and the situation looks untenable, and the Jets get a great offer, perhaps the Jets would not be “fools” to trade the player.
June 2, 2020
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