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Too often, the NFL rumor mill has turned into a garbage dump. People are hauling garbage and dumping it, not at a landfill, but on the unsuspecting public.
New York Daily News headline – “Jets Mailbag: Mo Wilkerson for Mike Glennon trade speculation.”
Daily News Sub-head – “This week’s Jets mailbag features an intriguing quarterback option.”
And what is that?
“Any chance the Jets can trade Mo Wilkerson for Bucs QB Mike Glennon.” – Cheryl Barnett.
“I will say it before, and I will say it again: Mike Maccagnan would be the happiest man on earth if he could trade Wilkerson, for say, a Top 15 pick in the upcoming draft,” responded Manish Mehta.”He would no longer need his beloved coffee to get through the day: He would be on a natural rush for weeks, months, maybe even years.
“Maccagnan recently said that the Jets are not actively pursuing a trade involving Wilkerson, but let’s get real for a moment. They have done their homework on the matter and simply don’t know of a team willing to pay that price that price to trade for Wilkerson.
“Frankly, it still makes sense to trade Wilkerson for a package (second-round pick and late-round pick) at this point. It’ll be more valuable than the compensatory pick that the team would get if Wilkerson walks as a free agent after the season.
“A Wilkerson-for-Glennon scenario makes for great discussion, doesn’t it?”
Not really, but it does make for great click-bait.
Headline – SB Nation – “NFL Trade Rumors: Mike Glennon for Mo Wilkerson speculation starts.”
Headline – Today’s Pigskin – “Exploring possibility of trading Mo Wilkerson for Mike Glennon.”
So let’s get this straight. A writer does a mailbag with fans. A fan asks about trading Mo Wilkerson for Mike Glennon. The Daily News then writes a misleading headline to make it seems like something is cooking between Tampa Bay and the Jets, and this turns into a rumor.
Welcome to sports journalism, circa 2016.
This is preposterous.
Wilkerson for Glennon? That is bizarre.
And the concept that Maccagnan, “would be the happiest man on earth if he could trade Wilkerson, for say, a Top 15 pick in the upcoming draft. He would no longer need his beloved coffee to get through the day: He would be on a natural rush for weeks, months, maybe even years,” is hard to believe.
Why would Maccagnan be so happy trading the best player on his team?
Hey, he might have to at some point if the players’ demands are unrealistic and can’t fit into Jets’ financial blueprint and cap.
But I don’t think Maccagnan is going to get an mega-adrenaline rush over trading Wilkerson. It might be a necessarily evil, but you win in this league with players who are difference-makers. Wilkerson is a difference-maker.
The problem with sports contracts these days is that players and agents are obsessed with benchmarks.
Suh and Dareus get $100 million deals, so that means Wilkerson needs to as well.
Why not just take a really nice offer, even if it’s not what Suh and Dareus got, and be happy?
I hate this benchmark nonsense.
So I respect how the Jets are handling Fitz. Basically they don’t care what Sam Bradford or Brock Osweiler got. They are intent on paying Fitz $8-9 million-a-year, and that’s it.
And the bottom line is the Jets don’t need to trade for Glennon or Josh McCown. They need to re-sign Ryan Fitzpatrick. This could take some time, but I think it will eventually get done.
March 25, 2016
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