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Joe Douglas didn’t cave to this guy’s public posturing last summer.
Arizona looks like it’s about to this year.
Last year, agent Erik Burkhardt, tried to bully the Jets into giving his client, safety Marcus Maye, a big money long-term contract.
Headline- March 3, 2021 – “Marcus Maye’s agent slams Jets in first sign of free-agency ugliness.”
ESPN’s Field Yates tweeted about how the Jets had a chance to get a lot done with $80 million in cap space and five first-round picks over the next three drafts.
Burkhardt replied to this tweet: “Yet 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 year’s All-Pro safety).”
He obviously thought that slamming the Jets publicly would make them cave, perhaps trying to avoid bad PR. This might have worked in the past with some regimes, but this public salvo had no impact on Douglas, who stood his ground, and refused to offer Maye top stratosphere safety money.
They made him an offer, but weren’t going in to venture into that Budda Baker-Justin Simmons contract level, considering Maye had not played to that level, and had injury issues during his first four years with Gang Green.
Douglas doesn’t go by Burkhardt’s scouting report on the player, but by his own. After not getting a long-term contract to his liking, Maye played last year on the franchise tag, but only ended up playing six games due to a couple of injuries, including a season-ending torn Achilles. He signed with New Orleans this off-season. Maye got a three-year deal for $22.5 million with $14.5 million guaranteed, a deal Douglas likely would have given him last year, but he wanted more.
However, while scorched earth campaigns might not work with some teams, they can with others.
Burkhardt also represents QB Kyler Murray, and their carpet bombing of the Arizona Cardinals this off-season in an attempt to get a monster extension, after just his third year, seemed to work.
In February, Burkhardt took to social media to publish a “letter” regarding his client, writing things like, “Looking ahead, Kyler believes that in order to consistently compete for championships, and ultimately deliver the Valley their first Super Bowl in 33+ years, there needs to be long term stability for both the organization and himself.”
And then Murray pulled hijinx like scrubbing the Cardinals from his social media account and not showing up for the off-season program (aside from the mandatory minicamp).
The aggressive approach by Burkhardt and his client seemed to work this time. The Cardinals are negotiating a massive long-term deal for Murray as we speak.
The last time we saw Murray, he completed just 19 of 34 throws for 137 yards and two picks in the Cardinals’ 34-11 wildcard loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
Did he look like a $45-50 million-a-year QB in that game?
They should probably wait a year before thinking about a massive long-term deal. See how he plays this year.
But Burkhardt’s campaign seemingly worked this time.
It didn’t work with the Jets.
Just like Jamal Adams campaign didn’t work, and they ended up trading the box safety for two first-round picks.
Look, I’m not putting Douglas in Canton as a GM. He still has a lot to prove, and the Jets need to win more games under his watch.
But to his credit, he doesn’t cave to public posturing by agents and players regarding contract extensions. He’s very disciplined on the contract front.
July 18, 2022
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