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New Jersey – A couple of matters to get into today involving the Jets’ early work in free agency. Let’s jump into it . . .
The Jets got three running backs for the price of one. That is basically what it boils down to.
The Jacksonville Jaguars gave Chris Ivory a five-year deal for $32 million with a $5 million signing bonus and $10 million guaranteed.
The Jets signed Matt Forte (Bears), Khiry Robinson (Saints) and Bilal Powell for a figure close to what Ivory got in Jacksonville.
Now, there is no question the Jets will miss Ivory. There is now way around that.
But this trio is very formidable.
Forte and Powell are two of the best receiving backs in football, and with all the attention Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker draw in coverage, you are going to see these two catch a ton of passes. You saw the impact Powell had late in the year as receiver. You saw how much they missed him in Buffalo.
In Robinson, the Jets are getting a reasonable facsimile of Ivory. Like Ivory he is from Texas. Like Ivory, he was under the radar coming out of college. Like Ivory, he made the NFL as an undrafted free agent. He has similar size – 6-0, 220 and is a battering ram with quick feet.
Interesting anecdote – during a game a couple of years ago, Fox Network analyst John Lynch told the audience that Bill Parcells called his protégé. Saints coach Sean Payton, playfully ripped him for not using Robinson more. Parcells loved the runner from afar. He saw Robinson as a workhorse and saw similarities to Curtis Martin.
Robinson is coming off the same injury as Mo Wilkerson, a broken tibia, but suffered it in early November, so he’s two months ahead of Mo in the rehab.
This is an interesting trio, and while the Jets will miss Ivory, they should be fine with this troika . . .
Mike Maccagnan clearly learned a big lesson from last year’s spending spree, that was a little over the top, and was clearly profligate.
As I mentioned in the latest issue, the Jets’ new brass wasn’t together very long when free agency started last year, and they weren’t entirely on the same page yet. And some mistakes were clearly made on the contract front.
Now that group has worked together for a year, and everyone is on the same page.
This year they are playing hardball with their contracts; last year, it was like Imelda Marcus shopping for shoes.
This year they are going to Payless Shoe Source.
They have drawn a line in the sand with Ryan Fitzpatrick, and they aren’t budging. It’s something in the ballpark of $7-8 million a year.
And they got three running backs for the price of one.
I know less cap space is part of this, but also, they were reckless last year, and now in retrospect, they know that.
Maccagnan is extremely bright. He’s not going to make that rookie mistake again.
March 10, 2016
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