Wednesday Whispers

You have to be careful

Where you get your information from.

With the explosion of social media, there are so many false narratives out there, about every topic, including the Jets.

Like Zach Wilson’s struggling, Denzel Mims is on the outs, Mike White’s not very good and Chris Herndon is a bad player.

Some people claimed to be shocked that Joe Douglas got a fourth-round pick for Herndon in Tuesday’s trade with the Vikings. The Jets sent a sixth-round pick to Minnesota in the deal.

To be honest, I was more shocked that Carolina gave the Jets a second-round pick for Sam Darnold, than Minnesota giving up a fourth-round pick for Herndon.

If you ignore the noise, the bottom line is Herndon is a very talented player, who has flashed at times, but had a bumpy road with the Jets, some of it his fault, some of it not. The DUI and suspension were his fault, the short stretch last year when he struggled, was his fault, but I also think, at times, we didn’t see his full potential, due to playing with a one-read QB, who probably didn’t throw to him enough, and hurt his ability to get into a groove.

It also didn’t help him playing in three different offenses in four years, not great for any player’s development.

But, to me, this is a skillful player, who has the wheels to threaten all parts of the field, and is a very underrated blocker.

This could turn out to be a heist for the Vikings, who have a QB who sees the field better than the QB Herndon played with in New York his first three years, and loves throwing to tight ends. Think about his work over the years with Kyle Rudolph, now the Football Giants.

The Jets could have used Herndon this year, but he probably needed to get out of Florham Park. The well has been poisoned, and this happens around there with players at times, where the fan and media hate becomes so intense, that it’s hard to work there anymore. An example of this was WR Stephen Hill. There were others. The hate becomes so over-the-top, that every little mistake is exacerbated, and a player can’t function that way. Mistakes are going to happen.

But no matter what you read in other places, a fourth-round pick made perfect sense in return for Herndon.

Vikings GM Rick Spielman is no fool. He’s been doing this for a long time. And while the Vikings have never won a Super Bowl under his watch (or ever), they have been contenders almost every year for quite a while.

He knows that giving up a fourth-round pick for a player with Herndon’s skillset isn’t too much.

And despite the noise, Douglas knows this player has a lot of talent, and wasn’t going to give him away.

This is a win-win-win, for the Jets to get a fourth-round pick, for the Vikings to get a tight end to fill-in for the injured Irv Smith, and for Herndon, who needed to get out of Dodge.

The Jets are now back to having good depth at tight end with the return of Ryan Griffin and Daniel Brown today, who were both re-signed, who join Tyler Kroft and the underrated Trevon Wesco at the position . . .

I will get into all the player moves tomorrow, but just want to touch on the release of cornerback Bless Austin. It was a mild surprise, but not a huge one. Yes, he was starting, but he really didn’t make much of a splash this summer. He was a pedestrian last year, and much the same this year. It’s not a lack of effort, and he has great character and works his tail off, but he’s just never blown away the decision-makers with his play. 

September 1, 2021

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