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As expected
during the Jets Douglas-Robert Saleh press conference today, they were inundated with Sam Darnold questions.
And of course, it made big news that Douglas said he would take calls on Darnold, his position on every player on the roster.
“I will answer the call if it’s made,” Douglas said. “As it pertains to Sam, like I said, Sam is we think a dynamic player in this league with unbelievable talent who really has a chance to hit his outstanding potential moving forward. Like I’ve said earlier, if calls are made, I will answer them.”
Oh my goodness, the humanity, that he would take calls on a QB with an NFL career completion percentage of 59.8 percent and a career QB rating of 78.6.
I just don’t get the big deal people make about Douglas keeping his options open at QB after Darnold’s first three seasons.
But I don’t want to talk about that, it’s getting boring.
Let’s get into this Marcus Maye story.
Maye’s agent, Erik Burkhardt, tweeted that the Jets “refuse to take care of their best player, Captain, & team-voted MVP in his prime who had several All-Pro votes…and who played out his entire rookie deal and even changed positions on his contract year (after they got rid of last years All-Pro safety).”
If Burkhardt thinks this is going to impact his contract negotiations with Douglas, he’s probably mistaken.
This kind of approach might have worked with past regimes, but it’s probably not going to move Douglas an inch. He’s not going to be pushed around by agents in the court of public opinion.
There were past regimes that cared about the PR of these situations, things that were being said and written. So Burkhardt has seen this strategy work around here.
Douglas isn’t wired that way. He’s doing to do what is best for the Jets, not Burkhardt.
This tweet is the equivalent of howling at the moon.
There is a new sheriff in town.
Now this isn’t to say Douglas won’t offer Maye a nice deal, but he’s not going to be bullied publicly by an agent and cave to his exact demands.
A few things about what Burkhardt tweeted.
Not sure Maye is the best player on the team. He’s a very solid player, but the Jets’ pass defense was really bad last season, and I’m not blaming that on Maye, but it is what it is. Maye had a few really nice plays, but the body of work for the secondary was pretty bad.
And Burkhardt mentioned that Maye “played out his entire rookie deal” like that should be a feather in his cap, but not sure it is. When was this window where they should have looked into extending him? After that 2018 season where he missed 10 games with injuries, and then was held out most of the next off-season and summer rehabbing? The last couple of years were about seeing him staying healthy and what he could do in extensive action.
The bottom line is safety contracts are very, very risky, and while Maye deserves to be paid, you need to be careful, with the Eric Berry deal in Kansas City being a perfect example. In 2017, Berry signed a six-year deal for $78 million, with $40 million guaranteed. Due to injuries, he played three games the next two seasons and was released.
There are other examples of big safety contracts that worked out real bad due to injuries, like Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas in Seattle, and Bob Sanders in Indianapolis.
So Douglas needs to judicious with this contract; pay the player nicely, but not go overboard.
And Burkhardt’s tweet will have no bearing on the negotiations. I can assure you of that.
March 3, 2021
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