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It looks like Bart Scott isn’t going to be traded. Is that a surprise? Let’s take a look.
Jets owner Woody Johnson was asked today if linebacker Bart Scott is going to be back this season.
“I think he’s going to be back,” Johnson said. “Why wouldn’t he be back? He’s under contract. We pay him. We like him. He’s a leader in the locker room. He’s an amazing player.”
Why wouldn’t he be back?
Well, after the Jets-Miami season finale, Scott’s camp told Newsday it was likely his last game with the team.
This was followed by numerous reports that Scott wanted to be traded due to his limited role in 2011, after playing full-time the previous two seasons.
Then came a statement from Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum, when asked about Scott’s future, he replied, “all options are on the table.”
At some point, over the last few months, Scott’s agent Harold Lewis and Tannenbaum had a meeting.
“We met and talked about patching up where things left off, and where they see Bart fitting in,” Lewis said. “If the expectations (between the Jets and Scott) are not the same, they have the right to trade or release him.”
Talk about a weak position. Read that over again. Lewis and Scott have zero leverage, and they know it.
So was William Shakespeare would say, this was “much ado about nothing.”
Scott was ticked about his playing time. According to one published report, he only played 65 percent of the time on defense, often coming out in obvious passing situations.
Scott was particularly upset that the Jets would often bring in defensive backs for him, for “coverage” purposes, but then blitz them.
If they were going to use the defensive back replacing him for pass rushing reasons, he felt he should be play. Scott is a very good blitzer.
But what Rex Ryan said today, sheds a lot of light at one part of the problems last year, and how it will be rectified this season.
“Bart’s got his weight down,” Ryan said. “He felt he probably got a little too heavy last year. We were going to use him as a blitzer and he got his weight up. He’s going to drop that weight back down a little. I think sometimes the longer you go in your career, sometimes it’s better to lose a little weight.”
Perhaps there is a little spin involved here, but it looks like they have reached a compromise – if Bart loses weight, and improves his mobility, he will stay on the field full-time, or close to it.
Honestly, there is no way Scott wanted to leave the Jets. This was just a power play by Scott, to get the Jets’ attention.
Why didn’t Scott really want to leave? First of all, he lives in his dream house, with his family, in a beautiful, upscale town, 15 minutes from Jets camp. Why would to leave his family, and this home, for six months, to go live in hotel, let’s say in Cleveland?
How about this one? Scott built a zip line for his kids in the back yard. It’s an amazing house that Scott stole during the down real estate market, and he continually doing things to upgrade it.
Also, there is no other team in the league that would pay a 32-year-old linebacker the $4.5 million the Jets owe him, guaranteed, in 2012. Do you really think he was going to give money back, and go play somewhere for less money? That would be just plain dumb.
The Jets need Scott, and Scott needs the Jets.
And now it looks like they are in lockstep once again.
This three month story, in retrospect, wasn’t much of a story at all.
(I will be traveling on Wednesday, so premium will return on Thursday by 9 pm)