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Take your time, do it right . . .
I think the market for Robby Anderson won’t be what some would lead you to believe. He will get paid nicely, but not insanely.
Good player, but very skinny (175 pounds), and had a few off-the-field issues. If you think teams are going to ignore those two issues he had with Florida police, even though Anderson was very well behaved last year, you are kidding yourself. That stuff scares off GM’s. You throw big money at a guy who has had issues in the past, and if he has issues with your team, the owner is going to be pretty pissed.
Reading the tea leaves, you get the sense Anderson will get paid, but not the $14 million-a-year he reportedly wants. So this market could come right back to the Jets sweet spot with this player, in the $9-10 million-a-year range.
And something else to keep in mind with Anderson. He has a great support-system at One Jets Drive that has helped him deal with his past issues, led by guys like Dave Szott and Robert “Bobby” Mastroddi. Szott is the Jets’ player programs director, who is like a Father Flanagan to guys in the locker room, almost like a life coach. Mastroddi, is the Jets’ security chief, and according to a league source, he was very helpful to Anderson in getting the charges reduced in his January, 2018 arrest in South Florida.
Anderson was seemingly a model player and citizen in 2019, and guys like Szott and Mastroddi were a great help. Would he want to go somewhere else and have to start over with a new support system?
And you could make a strong argument he should give the Jets a hometown discount since they helped him so much over the years with his issues.
We will see what Adam Schefter or Ian Rapoport announce about where Anderson lands, but perhaps the market won’t be as robust as some would lead you to believe. We shall see . . .
Some Jets fans are starting to panic with some marquee free agents of the board already – guard Joe Thuney (tagged by New England), center Graham Glasgow (signing with Denver), right tackle Jack Conklin (signing to Cleveland) and tackle/guard Hala Vaitai (signing with Detroit).
I could suggest chilling out.
As Bill Parcells like to say, “You can’t buy a championship.”
This idea of banking up a brink truck for guys like Thuney, Glasgow or Vaitai, is something I wouldn’t do if I were running the Jets.
You have a GM, a former college offensive tackle, who is brilliant at spotting offensive line talent. This is the guy who pushed the Baltimore Ravens to pick Iowa’s Marshall Yanda in the third round of the 2007 draft. He just retired after making 8 Pro Bowls and could be on his way to Canton.
Whether it’s in free agency or the draft, this guy will find offensive line talent, so they really don’t need to write insane checks to Thuney, Glasgow or Vaitai, none who were picked in the first-round. For goodness sake, let Joe go out and find his own guys like Thuney, Glasgow and Vaitai. By the way, Vaitai was picked in the fifth round by the Eagles in the 2016 draft. Guess who the VP of scouting was there? Douglas.
I would have signed Conklin, but Schefter announced a couple of weeks ago the Jets were already out of that sweepstakes.
And as I went to press, Schefter announced the Jets signed George Fant to a three-year deal for $30 million with $13.7 million guaranteed. Underrated OT, a former college basketball player, with the feet of a dancing bear, who can play left tackle.
March 16, 2020
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