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So many people were shocked that the Jets decided to trade defensive end John Franklin-Myers to the Denver Broncos for a 2026 sixth-round pick.
Not sure why. It kind of made sense.
Franklin-Myers is a good guy, and flashed at times, but if you really watched the games and film closely, you would make an argument that perhaps the Jets didn’t get enough bang for their buck on that four-year, $55 million contract they gave the player on October 7, 2021. That deal had $30.2 in guaranteed money.
Some thought the Jets might have jumped the gun on that one, and extended him a little too quickly based on his body of work in green.
One of the problems with a lot of football coverage is that people get too caught up in the highlight film plays, and aren’t focused on enough what happens down to down, series to series.
Especially with line play.
People tend to follow the ball, and the dirty work, involving D-line play, often gets ignored for the most part, aside from sacks, with many people just relying on Pro Football Focus grades, not really getting into the weeds and evaluating line play themselves, with their own two eyes.
If you really watched this player closely, he was okay since signing the deal, but was probably more like a $5-6 million-a-year player than a $13 million-a-year player.
He kind of left you wanting more, especially based on his contract.
Hey, maybe he did the absolute best he could, and that is fine, That is all you can ask of somebody.
Remember, the Los Angeles Rams moved on after one year after picking him in the fourth round.
None of this is personal. He’s a good guy, but the coverage of this trade is a little out of touch with the film. The trade made sense and should not be viewed as a shocker.
Joe Douglas was asked a few questions in his post-draft questions about the loss of this player. Here is one of his answers:
“It’s an unfortunate part of the business not being able to keep him, but there was an opportunity and Denver got a hell of a player, I’ll say that, Denver got a hell of a player,” Douglas said.
If he is truly is a “hell of a player” then you need to keep him. Obviously it’s not ideal to trade a “hell of a player,” especially for a sixth-round pick next year.
Robert Saleh was asked, “How do you replace him?”
“It’s going to be tough,” Saleh said.
Not really. They will be able to replace him.
I’m not going to criticize Douglas or Saleh for taking the high road in their answers, but clearly they asked him to take a pay cut and he wouldn’t do it.
Douglas said they could not afford both defensive ends Haason Reddick and Franklin-Myers.
While Reddick is an average run defender, the Jets’ run defense wasn’t very good the last couple of years before his arrival, with Franklin-Myers.
Not blaming Franklin-Myers for all the Jets’ run defense woes up front, but he was part of a unit that didn’t set the edge very well, and he was in the end rotation, and as one of the bigger-bodied defensive ends they had, perhaps he could have done a little more to help an enigmatic run defense.
The Broncos got a good player, but not a great one, and the Jets should be able to replace him.
May 1, 2024
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