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Every year when free agency starts, it’s the same song and dance.
If a team doesn’t come out of the gates signing household names, many fans trash the team.
The Jets are getting trashed now by many fans.
Signing guys like cornerback Isaiah Oliver and defensive tackles Javon Kinlaw and Leki Fotu doesn’t move the needle for them.
But, NFL free agency isn’t akin to fantasy football.
“This isn’t fantasy football, we are just trying to win,” former Atlanta Falcons coach Arthur Smith said a couple of years ago.
And he got fired after last season, after his GM picked a tight end, receiver, and running back in three straight drafts.
Is that how you build a championship team, or do you build from the inside out?
So many fans and reporters are obsessed with the receiver position, pounding the table that the Jets need to find a #2 receiver to play opposite Garrett Wilson.
Well if the team agrees with them on that, they should trade Allen Lazard right now.
If they did, they would take a $12.2 million cap hit.
I know he’s a war criminal now, like so many other Jets free agent receivers who played with substandard QB, but wasn’t he supposed to be the #2 receiver opposite Garrett Wilson? They gave him a four-year deal last year for $44 million with $22 million guaranteed.
He had a few drops, playing with a backup QB who didn’t see the field well, and often delivered the ball late, and now he can’t play anymore?
Garrett Wilson also had drops.
And how would Aaron Rodgers feel if you dumped a close friend of his that he has great chemistry with on the field?
Of course, the Jets should add a receiver or two in free agency, but why do they have to make a wild move like Tennessee did with Calvin Ridley, who was suspended a couple of years ago for gambling, after taking a leave of absence the year before? The Titans gave him a four-year, $92 million deal with $50 million, and we don’t even know if Tennessee has an answer at QB. That makes very little sense.
That is why the late, great San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh once said, “We are only competing against eight teams” and it was a 28-team league at the time.
The Carolina Panthers traded a talented edge rusher, and those guys are hard to find, to the Giants, and spent the money they saved on Brian Burns’ contract, to pay two guards.
Who impacts winning more, guards or edge-rushers?
The Dolphins let a first-round defensive tackle, who turned into one of the NFL’s best, walk in free agency.
We could go on forever about how most of these teams aren’t the eight teams Walsh was talking about.
So I have no issue with Joe Douglas’ measured approach so far in free agency.
They got two offensive line starters (John Simpson and Morgan Moses), two huge defensive tackles (Kinlaw and Fotu) to help fix their substandard interior run defense, a veteran backup QB (Tyrod Taylor) and a reserve defensive back (Isaiah Oliver) who can backup at all five secondary positions. They also re-signed their talented kicking duo.
And they’re not done.
Also, one thing you need to consider when criticizing GMs for not spending more is you don’t know what kind of budget they were given by people above them. That never comes out.
Did the GM not want to give Kirk Cousin the third year guaranteed in Minnesota, or was it above him? We will never find out.
One thing you’ve got to understand is that “quarterbacks make receivers and receivers don’t make quarterbacks.”
Who was the last receiver to lead his team to a championship?
How many first-round receivers or big-money free-agent receivers helped the New England Patriots win their six Super Bowl championships?
If you have an elite QB, who can see the field full field, go through his progressions and throw with anticipation, and he has competent receivers, you can win.
This isn’t fantasy football.
And don’t worry, the Jets will add receivers.
But that Ridley contract was ridiculous. Why would you want the Jets to do that?
How much of a difference did he make in Jacksonville last year?
Don’t worry Jets fans, the sun will come up tomorrow.
March 14, 2024
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