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The echo chamber continues to go after Malachi Corley.
When the echo chamber puts somebody in the dog house, it’s often hard to get out.
And a lot of people will follow.
Allen Lazard is a prime example, and in this era of fantasy football, the echo chamber often targets wide receivers.
Not anointed defensive stars who struggle to stop the run, but receivers, they often end up as piñatas.
Athlon’s headline – “Brutal NFL Reality Poised To Hit Jets Receiver With Cut Threat.”
Sporting News headline – “Jets may cut ties with high draft pick after just 1 season.”
Where did they get this concept from?
The New York Times.
“It would be a tough look if the Jets moved on from a third-round pick after one year, but this regime did not draft him, and it didn’t hide its disappointment in his lack of availability during the spring,” wrote Zach Rosenblatt for the New York Times. “Corley needs to show some maturity fast, stay on the field and make progress as a route runner while also contributing on special teams. The talent is obvious and he brings a unique skill set, but nothing is guaranteed for him.”
So what happens these days is that fan sites, pushed to provide constant content by their overlords, write a lot of stories based on opinion pieces, often from beat writers.
A lot of these young scribes view mainstream beat writers, like Rosenblatt, as Yoda-type figures, whose opinions are of great value.
If the Jets cut Corley, there would likely be myriad waiver claims by other teams.
This idea that the team “didn’t hide its disappointment in his lack of availability in the spring,” I really don’t know what to say about that.
I missed that.
But if they are disappointed in him for missing practices with an injury, were they also disappointed in Arian Smith?
Not sure what was wrong with Corley that forced him to miss spring practices because nobody asked the coach, but would you want him to practice with an injury in the spring that he could exacerbate it, and turn it into a long-term problem that could knock him out of training camp or real games?
Corley was working hard on the rehab field.
As for Corley being disappointing last year, of course, you could make that argument, but he was a raw as hell rookie receiver, out of a non-power five program (Western Kentucky) who needed a lot of work on his route-running, and took time to learn the Jets playbook, much more complicated than he was used to.
He had a huge jump in competition. He’s not playing – Houston Christian, FIU, Liberty, and Sam Houston like he did in 2023.
The Jets had plenty of talent at receiver last year, so they didn’t need to rush him, and they chose to take it slow.
So can we pump the brakes on ripping this guy?
Jeez – echo chamber – chill out.
July 21, 2025
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