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Announcement on the Aaron Rodgers watch:
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer said he believes the Packers and Jets will iron out a deal for Rodgers “sooner than people think.”
“I don’t think things between the Packers and Jets are in nearly as bad a place as some seem to believe they are,” Breer wrote Thursday. “I think it [the deal] could happen as early as this week, and certainly will get done before the draft.”
This means something.
Breer has a good relationship with Joe Douglas.
I’m not saying Douglas gave this to him, but national insiders like Breer get stuff that local guys don’t. I say this with no bitterness at all. It’s the way it works. I get it.
The national guys don’t do a lot of critiquing of the work of GMs and head coaches, so it keeps the relationships strong and keeps the information flowing.
Last we ran some strong information on the Packers-Jets talks from Yahoo’s Charles Robinson.
National guys get stuff that local guys don’t get.
But the national guys aren’t around the team a lot, so local guys get a lot of stuff they don’t get.
It cuts both ways.
I was at the NFL Owner’s Meeting in Phoenix this week.
When Douglas did do a press briefing with Jets beat writers, I wasn’t told about it.
Some of you might think that is strange since I’ve been covering the Jets for 30 years.
I’m not going to get into why that might have happened, because this isn’t about me.
My job is to write about the Jets, not become the story.
But I’m okay with this. I don’t want any favors. I want to call balls and strikes.
And what did I really miss? I will judge Douglas by his actions, not his words.
I will share something I said to Christopher Johnson at the Owners’ Meeting. I told him in my opinion he saved the franchise by hiring Douglas, perhaps the best GM they’ve ever had. If it wasn’t for Christopher, he wouldn’t be there. Christopher made it happen.
I got so much good stuff from the Owner’s Meeting working the hallways, so it was a very productive trip.
I’ll be sharing some of that stuff in upcoming issues of Jets Confidential.
You hear so much stuff about at these meetings, you forget some of it. Because when you are talking to people, a lot of these are casual conversations, off-the-record. You don’t take notes in these conversations because they aren’t interviews.
I will give you one.
Heard from a great source that the stock of Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter is plummeting with a lot of teams concerned with his attitude.
So I wonder if he might be there when the Jets are on the clock at 13.
Remember, there was a point a few months ago when he was being talked about as a possible first-pick of the draft (if the Chicago Bears had the pick, considering they already have QB Jalen Fields).
Carter could fill a huge Jets need for a big, powerful run stuffer who could compliment Quinnen Williams, and help fix a significant problem the Jets had the last couple of years, getting gashed up the middle against the run too often.
But is he worth the risk? Stay tuned.
Getting back to Breer.
I think he’s on to something. My sense is it could be any day now.
March 31, 2023
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