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Why did the Jets’ brass make Mike DeVito take a pay cut? That seems a little unfair. Was this really necessary?
The logic behind this move is a little flawed, and a little [butt] backward.
Of course, the first rationale for the pay cut from $3.11 million to $2.5 million in 2012, is because he’s not going to start anymore.
The Jets plan on starting Mo Wilkerson and rookie Quinton Coples at defensive end.
Wilkerson we understand, But the problem is, Coples never beat out DeVito for the other job, Rex Ryan just handed him the position.
It’s a little unfair to cut a guy’s pay for a demotion he didn’t earn. The demotion is a projection.
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again – Coples has Pro Bowl potential. He has a rare size-speed ratio, and the potential to be dominant.
But he’s never played 3-4 end before, so why just hand him the job? He has a lot of work to do.
At least give this a little time, and perhaps announce the start closer to the season, or sometime in September. Let him earn it. Why give it to him now?
It seems, aside from Rex really liking Coples as a player, and rightfully so, there was some contract gamesmanship going on here.
Ryan probably helped the organization’s desire to cut DeVito’s pay by dancing around a question about the defensive end’s role this year, following the team’s selection of Coples.
““I can’t really tell the exact role right now (for DeVito),” Ryan said after the Coples’ pick. “I know he is a tremendous player. To explain his exact role right now, I don’t really feel I can do that right now.”
Rex has gotten in trouble with his personnel department in the past, for overly-praising players in the press, and agents would use the coach’s words against the Jets in negotiations. Based on how he handled the DeVito situation, he’s clearly changed his tact.
DeVito is an underrated player. He’s an outstanding run defender, and a better pass rusher than he gets credit for.
While he’s not great at getting sacks, he does get into the backfield more than people realize to disrupt quarterbacks. I will give you a couple of examples from the Baltimore game last year.
On Joe Flacco’s first throw of the game, DeVito got by guard Andre Gurode, and put pressure on the quarterback, and forced an intentional grounding call. DeVito had another quarterback pressure on Baltimore’s third series, and Flacco threw the ball away.
So it’s easy to sit here and say he’s slow, and needs to be back up, but let’s not forget, he ran a 4.87 forty before the 2007 draft.
DeVito missed four games last year, with two different MCL sprains, one on each knee. Other players would probably miss more time. He busted his butt to come back quickly, not once, but twice.
You want 53 Mike DeVito’s on your team. He does so much for this team on and off the field. Off the field, I’m talking about charity work, signing autographs for fans, always helps the organization out with media interviews, things of that nature.
Let’s get this straight, in an off-season where the Jets decided to fully guarantee $15.35 million over the next two years to Santonio Holmes, they decide to nickel-and-dime DeVito?
Also this off-season, Mark Sanchez, coming off a bad season got a raise, and DeVito gets a pay-cut.
Making DeVito take a paycut, for becoming a backup to unproven commodity, not based on a competition, is unfair.
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