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After the Jets’ loss in Buffalo, Jets cornerback D.J. Reed said, “I’m ready to go to free agency, bro. I’m ready to see what’s next for me.”
There was a famous quote from former NFL coach Marv Levy about coaches considering retirement.
“If you say you plan to retire in two or three years, you’ve already retired,” Levy said.
Obviously Reed isn’t looking to retire, but the parallel is if you are talking about free agency with one game left to play, are you already there mentally?
Reed might not have meant any malicious intent by this quote, but it’s a bad optic. You won’t see any criticism around here because he’s popular with the media and a go-to guy in the locker room.
In the article by Tyler Dunne that featured the Reed quote, the writer had a damning line about the Jets – “Players can’t shelve their gear fast enough.”
If Reed’s friend is saying this about the Jets, and quoting Reed saying he can’t wait to leave, wouldn’t you be concerned about the player’s mindset this Sunday?
Jets Confidential asked Jets cornerback coach Tony Oden about the quote and if he’s concerned the player might have already checked out.
“What he meant by it, you have to ask him, not concerned one bit about D.J., how he plays,” Oden said. “If you watch the film, he plays with a reckless abandoning, if
you look at the film, it says nothing less than that. He is a great communicator, he plays hard, he plays fast, he plays physical and that is all I ask him to do and I am excited to watch him go out there this weekend and play.”
It seems like Reed views himself as a little bit of a victim here, which is common in a society full of victims now. However, he does have 11 pass interference-type penalties this year, so some might surmise he’s in a glass house throwing stones.
Based on his post-game press conference in Buffalo (not the Dunne interview, but with the Jets beat writers), he thinks part of his problem is not having much of a pass rush.
Brian Costello asked Reed: “It’s gotta be tough when you are facing a guy like Josh Allen and the pass rush isn’t getting to him, and he’s extending plays. A few times, it seemed he had a long time to throw.”
‘Yes, it’s frustrating,” Reed said.
Aside from Will McDonald, who has 10 sacks on the season, who else is rushing the passer well for the Jets?
As we have pointed out before, the team’s former brass did a poor job with a number of personnel decisions on the defensive side of the ball.
In my opinion, there are three or four defensive linemen on the Jets who likely would not be on anyone else’s active roster.
Nonetheless, this is a sign of a team starting to point fingers.
Whether what Reed is saying is spot-on about the pass rush or not, is it good for the culture for a defensive back to say it’s frustrating that the defense hardly got any pressure on Josh Allen (no sacks)?
Just like it’s not good for the culture to say, “I’m ready to go to free agency, bro,” with one game remaining.
People can choose to downplay this quote because they like Reed personally (he is a very nice guy) and he’s a good quote, but I can’t do it.
This is a bad quote.
And this is a bad culture, that desperately needs a Mike Vrable-type to fix the culture and bring some accountability to One Jets drive. This isn’t time for amateur hour hiring a young hot-shot coordinator who will bury his face in his playsheet with no leadership ability. They need an alpha dog leader of men who can build a program.
The Athletic’s Zach Rosenblatt announced that Vrable was in New Jersey Friday to interview for the Jets head coaching job.
If I’m the Jets, I’m not letting him out of the building – pay him what he wants – get the deal done. The hell with the spreadsheet.
This cultural decay needs to be reversed.
January 3, 2024
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