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Perhaps sometimes it’s best to let your actions speak for themselves.
C.J. Mosley broke his silence about opting out for the season on “Facebook Live.”
“That’s probably the biggest football decision I’ve made in a long time, probably since I picked what college I’m going to,” Mosley said. “That’s a book I got to start writing pretty soon. What’s the next step? Because there’s a lot of negative things people been saying as far as me not playing two years. And there’s a lot of positive things that are being said. I’m out all year so I have all this time to mentally get better, to physically get better, kind of readjust and kind of find that flame again.”
That “flame” comment enflamed a number of Jets fans. The following comments are from under Rich Cimini’s tweet promoting his story on the subject.
“Always good to hear the guy you signed for $84 mil, and has only played half a game in 2 years, is trying to ‘find that flame again,'” tweeted C’mon Brother 7.
“Did he need that flame to deposit the $10 mil bonus he collected recently? asked Alan Fellman.
A gentleman who goes by the handle, “Jet for Life” surmised what the “flame” comment really meant.
“So what he’s saying is he doesn’t have that flame and he signed here only for money,” tweeted Jet for Life.
That is an intriguing theory and begs the question – If Mosley was still in Baltimore, where he was the leader of the defense, and revered in the community, would he have opted out?
So while he makes a ton of money with the Jets, he’s not really a leader for this team or a big part of the team’s fabric, yet.
He might regret not taking the reported $13 million-a-year that Baltimore offered, instead of going for the Jets’ offer. Perhaps he was happier and more comfortable in Baltimore.
But his comment about finding that flame again, was perhaps a very bad choice of words from a PR standpoint, and that is maybe why some Jets fans really went after him on social media.
“Go stand in line for 12 hours at the unemployment office while not knowing if you have COVID because you can’t get a test anywhere. See if you can find that flame again there,” tweeted OG Jets Fan.
“The Jets gave $85 million to a player that lost his ‘flame’ to play the game. Unf-ingbelievable!” tweeted King Brooklyn.
“So he’s using #COVID19 as an excuse because he doesn’t that passion to play?” asked Stephanie Sweet.
Matt02189214 tweeted: “He’s a gutless thief.”
These people are ticked off, as you can see.
Perhaps it was a poor choice of words, but the bottom line is this was an awful contract given out by the prior regime. Awful.
Mosley is a good player, but paying inside linebackers this kind of money is insanity. You spend the big bucks for elite edge-rushers, franchise quarterbacks, shutdown left tackles and lockdown corners, not inside linebackers.
What was the prior regime thinking?
“Spending big money in free agency can be fools gold,” Arizona Cardinals GM Steve Keim said recently, not about any signing in particular.
So now, not only do the Jets owe him a king’s ransom moving forward, but now they have to examine his passion for the sport.
The only thing they can hope is that the firestorm that his words created, and all the attacks on him, will motivate him to shut up his critics.
He’s not used to this kind of criticism as a big-time recruit out of high school, a star at Alabama, a first-round pick and a standout in Baltimore.
He’s never been lambasted like this before.
Perhaps it would have been better to make a decision to opt out, and then say nothing – just stand by your decision. He probably had more support before his “flame” comment:
“I supported his decision, but that’s an awful thing to say from your $17 million linebacker who is supposed to a culture changer on defense,” tweeted Brian O’Really.
August 4, 2020
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