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This puts last year’s tweet about the Jets and his client in a little more perspective.
Remember, last year, agent Erik Burkhardt took to Twitter to rip the Jets for not offering his client Marcus Maye a lucrative long-term deal.
ESPN’s Field Yates tweeted on March 2, 2021 that the Jets could have $80 million cap space entering last year’s NFL free agency period.
In response to this tweet, Burkhardt tweeted, “Yet refuse to take care of their best player, Captain, & team-voted MVP in his prime who had several All-Pro votes, and who played out his entire rookie deal and even changed positions on his contract year (after they got rid of last years All-Pro safety).”
This tactic of ripping the Jets publicly, which might have worked under past regimes, didn’t work with Joe Douglas, who held his ground, offering the safety a measured deal, which he and his agent refused, and he played last year under the franchise tag, for about $11 million. He ended up playing just six games, first due to an ankle injury, and then a torn Achilles, so he made about $1.7 million per game, not bad money if you can get it.
They probably should have taken the money offered, which was reportedly a similar deal to what the Cleveland Browns gave John Johnson, a three-year deal for $33.8 million with $24 million guaranteed. So that is essentially a two-year deal for $24 million. Maye and Burkhardt clearly had their sites set higher, perhaps on that $15-16 million range that guys like Justin Simmons and Budda Baker got.
Look Maye is a solid player, but probably not on the level of Simmons and Baker. He and his agent were perhaps overrating his value a tad.
And now fast-forward a year later, and Burkhardt is acting a little out of touch with reality again, sounding off on the Arizona Cardinals, regarding his client Kyler Murray, coming off a rough season down the stretch and in the playoffs, about giving him a long-term contract.
“Actions speak much louder than words in this volatile business,” Burkhardt said in a statement. “It is now simply up to the Cardinals to decide if they prioritize their rapidly improving, 24-year-old, already 2x Pro Bowl QB, who led the organization from 3 wins before his arrival to 11-wins and their first playoff appearance in 5 years, or rather, if they choose to financially prioritize committing to other areas and continuing to merely talk about addressing Kyler’s long term future as their QB. Unfortunately, every player, coach, and executive in the NFL knows (or should know) that words and hypothetical contractual promises are regularly dismissed and fleeting in this business.”
Doesn’t he learn? Browbeating teams publicly about giving his clients, especially those who aren’t star players, isn’t a good strategy.
He can think his clients are great, but most teams will go by the film, and as scouts and coaches like to say “the film don’t lie.”
So what is more important for teams, to look at the film, and the body of work, and then make contract decisions, or listen to Burkhardt’s biased takes his own clients?
This is kind of a bizarre approach, especially since these two clients aren’t elite players, at least not up until this point.
By the way, this is why I never ever quote agents about their clients. They aren’t objective.
Also, don’t expect any of the NFL Insiders who break stories to say one bad word about Burkhardt’s approach.
I will let you figure out that one, but it has something to do with biting the hand that feeds you.
The bottom line is the Jets did nothing wrong with Maye and the Cardinals with Murray.
They can’t make decisions based on Burkhardt’s biased evaluation of his own clients.
March 1, 2022
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