Why do you need to match that?

Mo Wilkerson didn’t report to the Jets off-season workout program. No surprise there. But where is all this headed? This is a tough one.

Last off-season, Wilkerson missed all the off-season workouts, and that is probably going to happen again.

As you know, he’s entangled in a contract imbroglio, and there is no end in sight.

And honestly, this is a really complicated deal to get done.

Last year, defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh and Marcell Dareus received monster deals.

Suh became the highest paid defensive player in NFL history, signing a six-year contract with Miami Dolphins for $114 million, with around $60 million guaranteed.

Dareus signed a six-year contract for $96,574,118 contract with Buffalo for around $60,000,000 guaranteed.

These contracts make it near impossible for the Jets to get a deal done with Wilkerson.

Those are insane benchmarks for the Jets to have to match, and they refuse to do it.

We live in a sports world now where standout players feel they need to equal the enormous contracts similar players signed with other teams.

I’ve never liked this. Just because other teams overpay players, does that mean you have to?

This mindset is making the Ryan Fitzpatrick deal tough to consummate.

And to the Jets credit, they aren’t going to base their Fitzpatrick deal on the insanity of other middle-rung QB contracts, like Brock Osweiler, Andy Dalton, Sam Bradford, Colin Kaepernick or whoever you want to name.

The Jets are in that $8-10 million range for Fitz, and that is where they want to stay. Good for them. They made a big mistake last year bidding against themselves and they learned their lesson.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Mo is a heck of a players, but the Dolphins and Bills made big errors last year, and the Jets shouldn’t follow suit. When was the last time a defensive tackle led a team to a championship? They are important, but $60 million guaranteed for an interior lineman is way over-the-top.

And here is another problem not many are bringing up. Let’s say the Jets want to trade Wilkerson, I doubt any other team wants to give Wilkerson that kind of money. So how do you trade him when the suitor doesn’t want to meet that demand either?

And aside from the contract demands complicating a trade, health is as well.

Even if a team was inclined to giving Mo mega-bucks, they are probably going to want to see him get back on the field from a broken leg. It could come after the July 15 deadline for players on franchise tags to sign long-term deals.

I’m not making excuses for the Jets, but this is an extremely tough contract (or trade) to do right now based on the contract complications.

Last year Saints defensive tackle Cameron Jordan, a similar player to Wilkerson, signed a five-year, $55,000,000 contract with the Saints for $33,469,000 guaranteed,

I’m sorry if some find this disrespectful to Wilkerson, but that seems fine to me for his position. And I’m sure the Jets would give him something in that ballpark.

Honestly, I’m tired of this benchmark nonsense.

Just because the Dolphins and Bills made big financially mistakes, why do the Jets?

April 18, 2016

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