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This was a mistake and a teachable moment . . .
On Tuesday, Manish Mehta announced that Robby Anderson signed a two-year deal for $20 million with Carolina.
On Tuesday, Anderson wrote a thank you message on social media to the Jets and their fans.
You can read the entire message on Instagram.
“The fans mean the world to me and this will be a hard goodbye,” was one thing Anderson said.
He went to say to the Jets’ organization: “I just want to say thank you, the opportunity meant the world to me.”
There was a lot more, but you get the idea.
This was a nice way to close the Robby Anderson Jets chapter.
But then on Wednesday morning, Boomer Esiason said on his WFAN morning show: “I don’t know if the Jets wouldn’t offered him a two-year deal. That I don’t know. But I do know that, according to my sources, that there was a four-year, $40 million deal on the table for Robby Anderson.”
Later in the day on Wednesday, Anderson responded to Esiason’s tweet by tweeting: “False news y’all. Need to do better job reporting and putting out fake news too, “people.”
On Thursday, in response to Anderson’s tweet, Esiason said, “I have a great source. My source is always accurate. I’m not backing off anything I said.”
He went on to say, “I know what I know, and I’m just telling you what I was told, and I stand by it.”
So instead of Anderson’s Instagram post thanking the Jets and their fans for his four years with the team being the capstone of his Jets career, it’s now this pissing match between Anderson and Esiason and the Jets over the negotiations.
If I’m Joe Douglas, I’m livid at whomever leaked that information to Esiason. Some might ask, “What if it was him?”
Knowing the landscape, I really don’t think so, but if it turns out to be Douglas, we will revisit this.
But let’s assume it’s not Douglas.
Why would somebody leak this to Esiason? What purpose does it serve. Well a fan named Jimmy responded by saying, “It serves the purpose of getting JD off the hook by him offering Anderson a multiyear contract.”
My response to Jimmy was, “Why does he need to get off the hook? He just signed a six-year contract for $3 million-a-year. Why would he care about what think? He’s in the early stages of a reboot.”
My point is simple – Douglas doesn’t need to spin anything. His job is turn around the Jets and fix their football culture.
The last thing he needs to worry about is spinning why a player left.
To me, this leak is part of an old way of thinking where some people think you need to spin this king of thing.
You don’t need to spin anything. You hired Douglas to turn things around, let him do his thing.
There is no reason you need to spin any of his moves, especially this early in his tenure.
He’s a big boy. He can handle the criticism, whether it’s merited or not.
And this unnecessary leak clearly didn’t accomplish what the leaker was attempting to accomplish.
Why?
Because Esiason only mentioned that the supposed offer was four years for $40 million, but made no reference to the guarantee. We all know, the only thing that really matters in NFL contracts is the guaranteed money. So if the leaker really wanted to spin this in the Jets favor (which wasn’t necessary), the leaker should have told Boomer how much was guaranteed.
March 26, 2020
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