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It was borderline racketeering . . .
Talking about some of these contracts given out by the former regime.
Trumaine Johnson, C.J. Mosley, Darrelle Revis (second contract time with the team), Mo Wilkerson and of course, Le’Veon Bell.
Unbelievably wasteful and led to very little success.
Some of the worst contracts in Jets history, and in some case, NFL history, dolled out by the former regime.
As Bill Parcells once said, “You can’t buy a championship.”
So true.
And money can’t buy you love.
Lets be honest. Le’Veon Bell never bought in to being a Jet.
The man couldn’t even bother to attend the 2019 off-season program after he signed with the team. Let’s get this straight. The man signed a four-year, $52.5 million deal with $27 million guaranteed, and doesn’t join his new team for workouts after signing the deal?
What else do you need to know about him not buying in?
And then he’s inactive for a game due to an illness, and goes bowling the night for a game?
What else do you need to now about him not buying in?
He took a ridiculous, reckless offer from the previously regime and laughed his way all the way to the bank.
Why did the previous regime pay him so much with no other serious suitors? Why bid against yourself?
The Jets did the right thing moving on from Bell before his attitude impacted all the young players they have in the building.
Young players are very impressionable, and I actually think the Jets 2020 rookie class has a chance to be very good. It’s hard to tell right now because most of them have been injured, but potentially they could have six starters in LT Mekhi Becton, WR Denzel Mims, S Ashtyn Davis, DE Jabari Zuniga, G Cam Clark and CB Bryce Hall. I’m serious, once healthy, and comfortable with the system, all these guys could start. And they have a few undrafted free agents they like as well.
So you don’t want these guys negatively impacted by a high-profile veteran running back’s questionable attitude, like playing teenage games on social media “liking” fan posts about wanting the ball more and wanting to be traded.
Jets GM Joe Douglas had to get him out of the locker room.
And this has nothing to do with Adam Gase, who might not even be long for his current job.
Some people are acting like Gase won a power struggle with Bell and got him cut.
That really isn’t what this was all about.
It’s about Douglas building a strong football culture with the right guys in the locker room.
As for this terrible season, this too shall pass, and with Douglas at the helm, perhaps with a new coach in the near future, we could be having a different conversation about the Jets in a year or two (especially with all those premium draft picks), and you don’t want to poison the minds of young, developing players putting the wrong thoughts in their minds.
So Douglas did the right thing moving on from Bell.
All Douglas can do now is work on putting together a strong roster/culture, something in the early stages (he hasn’t been in Florham Park that long). He can’t do anything about the coaching.
Clearly he should be the football czar in the near future and be the head coach’s boss, but he isn’t right now, so all he can do now is get the roster fixed.
And he has plenty of running backs who can do the job, sans Bell, with La’Mical Perine, Josh Adams, Ty Johnson and Frank Gore.
October 14, 2020
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