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Let’s take a closer look at what he said the other day, and if you can take anything out of it. Here it is . . .
I mentioned the other day that Mike Maccagnan didn’t say much at his presser at the combine. I went over it, and tried to bring you a few tidbits that shed a little light on some situations. Here are those answers . . .
Q)What is the latest on Mo Wilkerson and the franchise tag?
Maccagnan: First and foremost, a lot of agents for our players or free agents are actually here at the Combine and we’ve scheduled meetings, more or less, with all of the. We have an idea internally of what we’ll potentially do.
Q)Is it fair to say that Mo will not become a free agent?
Maccagnan: All options are on the table.
Q)Could Damon Harrison be tagged instead of Mo?
Maccagnan: I would say, realistically, they’re both options. I think we have to decide one of the two.
Q)How much does Leonard Williams factor into your decisions with Damon Harrison and Mo Wilkerson?
Maccagnan: Can we keep all of them? It’s not outside the realm of possibilities, but you know, it would be a very big investment in that area.
Q)Last year, you filled a lot of needs in the draft, so you could pick the best players available. With less money this year for free agency, will you be able to do the same this year, or have to pick need?
Maccagnan: You don’t really want to let need factor into your draft decisions. Teams do that. The problems is, you factor something in that has no bearing on whether that player’s going to be successful or not. You run the risk of skewing your process or your grades and maybe passing on another player that ends up being a much better player.
So I don’t think I would say we would fill some needs in free agency and then try fill the other needs in the draft.
Q)Are you confident you can bring Ryan Fitzpatrick back?
Macagnan: We just have to come to an agreement on a cost where both sides think is fair. That’s still yet to be determined in the near future as we go forward before free agency. There’s a little window, usually before free agency starts, where a lot of deals get done.
Q)Most NFL teams don’t have a lot of success in trades. You guys did last year. What is the key?
Maccagnan: The big thing with trades in this league is, you really need to know what you’re trading for. We really spent a lot of time trying to figure out what they were like as people. I think the reason a lot of teams don’t trade, historically, is if they think there’s a reason the team is trying to get rid of that player, then they may not want to bring that player on. I think we did our due diligence and felt very good about the potential trades we made and felt very fortunate they happened.
Q)What did you take away from your self-scouting after you first year as Jets GM?
Maccagnan: Well, I’m trying to drink less coffee.
February 26, 2016
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