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IF they are going to do it, they need to do it better. As they say, “actions speak louder than words.” . . .
The Jets’ social media twitter account tweeted out today, “The goal is to build through the draft. But how much activity will there be in free agency?”
First of all, let me start with the second sentence. The Jets’ social media account was posing this question, but they don’t know the answer. They were just throwing it out there, like any of us could. What followed this question didn’t answer it?
As Mike Maccagnan would say in one of his press conferences, “I don’t necessarily want to get into that.”
Maccagnan isn’t telling the in-house reporters or mainstream media what he’s going to do.
As for first sentence – “The goal is to build through the draft.”
This is newspeak is fine, but now they’ve got to do it better.
That mantra was pushed by both Woody Johnson and Mike Maccagnan when they both addressed the media on January 5. They didn’t address the media at the same time. Johnson went first, and then Maccagnan.
They both said over-and-over they want to build through the draft. They clearly had a meeting before these pressers to get on the same page. And that is fine. That is smart. They don’t want to contradict each other.
But if this is the plan that Maccagnan, a long time scouting and college scouting director, wanted to follow, why would they come out of gate right spending in free agency somewhat recklessly.
Look, I understand they were way under the cap, but that doesn’t mean you throw money around impetuously.
Why would a football brass, that clearly wants to build through the draft, give a 30-year-old cornerback, who had lost some of his speed and quick-twitch, a five-year deal for $70 million with $39 million guaranteed?
This might have been the worst contract in Jets history – the kind of deal that does major damage to your program. Because not only did it hurt the Jets on the field, it hurt their football culture.
Because Revis was not only bad on the field, giving up myriad big plays that impacted winning and losing, but also was resented in the field and locker room for making so much money, and not producing. That really bothers teammates, all making less. And then on top of that, he was making excuses left and right, like “I’m old” and “My body is breaking down.”
I don’t know how much more I can emphasize what a horrid move this was, and what a negative impact it had on the team and the Jets’ organization. It was a disastrous move.
The way you build through the draft is you draft really well and then you re-sign the key players from the draft process.
So that is how the Jets need to proceed from here. Build through the draft, re-sign the standout players from that draft process, and add street free agents here and there to complement the draft picks.
It still blow me away that a new regime coming in that wanted to build through the draft, would come out the gate and spend in free agency like kamikazes.
Jets fans can only hope they learned a valuable lesson from this mistake.
February 13, 2017
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