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It was kind of an unusual thing for a player to say:
“I’ve seen the stat that they haven’t re-signed a first-round draft pick in the last seven to 10 years, something like that,” Quinnen Williams told reporters after the season.
Some would consider this quote obnoxious coming from a player.
Some might not.
Williams was referring to the Jets’ recent history of not having a great record of locking up #1 picks to second contracts.
Well first of all, when you trade one of them, a box safety, for two first-round picks, you gotta include that in the record, and that was a heck of a move by the Jets.
But you also have to consider that there has been a lot of regime change over the period of time, so when a first-round pick of a prior regime, comes up for a second contract, maybe the new regime doesn’t value the player the same way.
However, no matter how you slice it, the Jets’ track record with re-signing recent #1 picks should have no bearing on how the Williams’ talks are handled.
You would have to be a foolish contract negotiator to pay Williams whatever he wants to reverse a trend.
Regardless of the trend, you look at the film, not just the highlights, but all the film, and come up with an appropriate value.
There was this recent report from ESPN’s Rich Cimini, a long-time Jets beat writer:
“Two defensive tackles from Quinnen Williams‘ draft class — Tennessee Titans‘ Jeffery Simmons ($23.5 million per year) and the New York Giants‘ Dexter Lawrence ($22.5 million) — have received big extensions this offseason. Williams appears to be The Next Man Up, but the two sides aren’t close to an agreement even though the second-contract market for top defensive tackles is clearly formed.”
Perhaps the “two sides aren’t close to an agreement” because Simmons and Lawrence are better against the run than Williams. While interior pass rushing is important, and Williams is very good at it, you need stout run defenders up the middle in the NFL to have a successful defense.
In a salary-cap sport, where funds need to be spread out over every position in a pragmatic fashion, you just can’t say, “Okay, Williams is the next man up, just pay him like Simmons and Lawrence.”
That is just dumb and governing by public opinion polls.
You should never be shamed into making a bad deal.
Williams deserves a lucrative deal, and he deserves big money, but you gotta base it on the film, and based on the run defense issues, he should probably get a little less than Simmons and Lawrence, not a little more.
And the player making that statement after the season about the Jets’ recent track record of re-signing first-round picks, shouldn’t have any impact on the talks.
In fact, you could argue that the people making the contract decisions with the Jets should be pissed at the player doing that.
That is something you usually hear from agents, not players.
No team should be shamed into overpaying by a player’s rhetoric.
At least not the smart ones.
May 10, 2023
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