What is going on?

Let’s take a closer look at the Mo Wilkerson situation . . .

Wilkerson didn’t make the trip with the Jets to New Orleans due to lateness.

There were some attitude concerns about Wilkerson coming out of Temple.

Just like there were some attitude concerns about Giants cornerback Janoris Jenkins coming out of North Alabama.
Both players played really well and were on their best behavior during their rookie contracts; Wilkerson with the Jets and Jenkins with the Rams.

And you are like, “okay, they have matured, they get it now.”

Then they get that monster second contract, Wilkerson with the Jets, and Jenkins with the Giants, and all bets are off. The issues starting re-appearing. You see, once you get that second contract, you are the boss. That is why you need to be realty careful who you give monster contracts to.

Will you get the same player as the first contract, or were they playing you a little, acting like choir boys, to get to that second deal?

Many people, with regular jobs, can’t understand the concept of constantly being late to work, especially a guy making $17 million a year.

It defies the sensibilities.

What is he thinking?

Are their issues at home?

Something that certainly didn’t help matters was when Todd Bowles said at the owner’s meeting in the spring, “Sometimes you are late for work. It’s life. It’s not life-threatening. Sometimes your alarm clock isn’t going to go off.”

Terrible thing to say if you are a coach. Big mistake. You can’t say that. It sends a bad message to your players.

Not saying Wilkerson’s lateness issue is totally related to this, but the coach didn’t set a very good standard when he said that.

I want to make something clear before I continue, what I’m about to get into isn’t an excuse for lateness. It certainly isn’t.

But I think the New York Daily News has really had negative impact on Mo’s mindset.

To have a New York tabloid, one of the most highly circulated papers, constantly trashing you, has to prey on the mind of a player and his family, especially when the family is local.

I think Mo wants to get the heck out of here.

The Daily News has been trashing this guy non-stop the last few years. I think one reason is that he’s not cooperative with them, and they are showing him who is boss.

Remember the story this off-season that compared him to the Goodyear Blimp.

Last week, they printed a story, that according to a Jets source, Wilkerson is “gone” after this season.

If you are Wilkerson, how would you feel about that?

The story said it came from the team?

This writer has written so many vicious things about this player. It’s out of control.

And a big problem is, I don’t think Mo thinks the team has his back when it comes to these non-stop attacks from the Daily News.

The team has no answer for this writer. None.

I think Mo will be gone after season, sign with a small market with limited media, or a team that controls the media (New England), and will be dominant again.

Once again, I’m not making excuses for lateness, which is inexcusable, but think the Daily News has bleeped with Mo’s mind.

December 15, 2017

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