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This was no surprise to me . . .
I saw it all summer.
Playing for Orlando in the American Alliance of American Football, wide receiver Charles Johnson caught seven passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns over the weekend.
Johnson was with the Jets in the off-season and summer, and performed very well in their camps and preseason.
But barring injury, he essentially had no chance of making the team.
I knew he was going to get cut unless one of the anointed players got hurt.
I have seen this play many times.
And that is why I love the concept of this new league.
Is it the most entertaining football to watch? Not necessarily, but there is a lot of legit talent in this league.
And a lot of them just got screwed by NFL roster politics.
If you think that when NFL teams cut down to 53 in the summer, all there are decisions are based on merit (practice and preseason performances), I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
I have been complaining about this for over two decades.
And I don’t want to make you think I’m picking on the Jets here.
This political roster stuff goes on with most teams when it comes to the cuts – with draft picks and other anointed players getting “most favored nation status.”
I think it’s flat-out ridiculous to make personnel decisions based on anything other than keeping the best 53, like New England does.
Look, I understand you aren’t going to cut a first-round pick in his first or second year if they struggle in camp. I get that.
But if you do keep them, don’t force them into the starting lineup, something the Jets have been guilty of in recent years.
For goodness sake, Darron Lee admitted on SiriusXM NFL Radio after his rookie year, he didn’t know half the playbook when he was starting as a rookie.
What’s up with that?
Why the heck would you put a player on the field who doesn’t know all of his assignments?
That makes no sense, at least in my worldview.
So in a perfect world, Charles Johnson would not be in the Alliance of American Football, he would be with the New York Jets.
He did enough to make the Jets last spring and summer.
While the Alliance of American Football might not be the most entertaining football, at least not yet, it’s serves an important purpose.
It’s going to help the NFL a great deal, because it’s going to give guys who were given a raw deal in training camp and the final NFL cuts, a chance to play a season in football in the new league, and show NFL teams, you can’t ignore me anymore.
Watching some of the Atlanta game over the weekend, I saw a super-quick, athletic defensive tackle named Tracy Sprinkle shoot into the backfield and sack San Diego QB Phillip Nelson. The Jets could use another athletic DT like this, especially with Gregg Williams’ 4-3 defense coming to Florham Park.
This league is going to be great for the NFL.
And for players like Charles Johnson to show teams like the Jets he belongs in the NFL.
February 18, 2019
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Tuesday (and we will get into the Gregg Williams-Joe Vitt stuff I promised on Friday).