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New Jersey – Mike Maccagnan held a press briefing today and addressed a few issues, including the Ryan Fitzpatrick contract impasse. Here is my take . . .
A small victory for Fitzpatrick today.
“We like Ryan — we’d like to have Ryan back — but it’s free agency,” Maccagnan told reporters on a conference call. “You go through it. At some point in time, hopefully, we can find a middle ground we’re both happy with.”
Where is the small victory?
“Hopefully we can find a middle ground.”
That is huge for Fitzpatrick.
Now it’s not going to get him the $14-15 million a year he’s supposedly looking for, but it’s a clear indication that the Jets and Maccagnan are willing to move above the Chase Daniel-stratosphere.
Words mean a lot.
The use of “middle ground” will help this get resolved.
Because now that Maccagnan said that publicly, if Jimmy Sexton continues to ask for double of that $7 million figure, they are going to look very bad.
And since Fitzpatrick has no other offers, this is a benevolent position for the GM to take. Theoretically, he doesn’t need to move off his Chad Daniel-esque offer if there are no other suitors.
But he clearly is.
I’ve said it once, and I will say it again, “Fitz” killed his bargaining
position with that game with that Week 17 game in Buffalo.
I almost feel bad for him (I say “almost” because I like to keep emotions out of reporting). He’s a heck of guy, but he definitely shot himself in the foot three times that day.
Like I said before, if there was any silver-lining to that painful game for the Jets and their fans, it was that it drove the quarterbacks price way down. If the Jets had won that game, and let’s say one playoff game, they probably wouldn’t be able to afford him.
So what should they give him?
Daniel got a three-year contract for $21 million with $12 million guaranteed from the Eagles.
How about bumping that up to Andy Dalton’s guarantee of $17 million or Alex Smith’s $19 million guarantee?
So a three-year deal for $30 million with $18 million guaranteed, that seems fair, and a good middle point.
Hey, Jay Cutler, who has been Pick Machine, got $38 million guaranteed, and Brock Osweiler, who has proved very little, got $37 million guaranteed.
So to me, $18 million guaranteed, is a good middle ground, since Sam Bradford got $22 million guaranteed, which is somewhat ridiculous, but you know darn well Sexton is fixated on that deal.
But I give Maccagnan a ton of credit for his language today during a press briefing. He was nothing but kind towards Fitz – showed a lot of love – zero vitriol.
“We feel we have a very good situation for Ryan here,” Maccagnan said. “He’s a very good fit for us. Our goal eventually is to get Ryan under contract and go forward with that.”
Aside from the “middle ground” olive branch Maccagnan extended to the Fitzpatrick camp, there was another one.
The GM downplayed the Robert Griffin III visit as just a “meet-and-greet.”
He didn’t play it up to scare Fitz, didn’t use it as a veiled threat.
March 18, 2016
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