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This was announced last week, but does it make sense?
On March 6, Connor Hughes announced, “According to multiple league sources, the Jets are among the teams pursuing Redskins LT Trent Williams.”
First off all, a hat-tip is in order for Hughes, an SNY Jets Insider. I have been doing this for 25 years, and I’m telling you, it’s hard enough to get one source on a story like this, but to get “multiple league sources,” is a tour-de-force.
And the other thing that is pretty impressive about this is Hughes has this, but national NFL insiders like Adam Schefter, Ian Rapoport and others didn’t.
Williams is represented by agent Tom Condon, who is really hard to get stuff from, and when he does hand out scoop candy, it usually goes the national heavy-hitters. In other words, he almost never shops local.
In fact, not sure if y’all knew this, but for a time, Schefter was represented by Condon. Some viewed this as a conflict of interest. Schefter is now represented by somebody else.
So for Hughes to land this scoop, ahead of the national guys, is quite impressive.
But getting to the player. While he’s a terrific talent, he’s had a lot injuries and medical issues over the years. He sat out last year in part due to a contract dispute, and also due to a growth on his head. Williams has not played a full season since 2013.
In 2016, he was suspended four games for violating the NFL’s substance policy. The same thing happened in 2011.
In 2017, he had a knee injury that landed him on IR.
He could not participate in the 2013 Pro Bowl after getting injured in a night club fight.
And the situation with his head last year, led to a dispute with the team’s medical staff on how they handled it.
So you would have to wonder if Williams would really want to come to the Jets, after Kelechi Osemele’s nasty public battle with the Jets medical staff over his shoulder pain, a battle that went public, and ended with Osemele having the surgery against the team’s wishes and getting released.
Look, I’m not pointing fingers at anybody in the Osemele-Jets dispute. I’m just saying considering it just happened last season, would Williams want to get involved with a team that had a similar battle with a player, like his with the Redskins?
Also, Williams reportedly wants $20 million a year?
If you are Joe Douglas, with so many holes to fill, would you want to allocate that kind of money to Williams, who will be 32 this summer, and who’s had two suspensions and multiple injuries?
No question Williams is a very talented left tackle. He’s a freakish athlete with the feet of a much smaller man, and ran 4.8 when he came out.
But what if the Jets committed $20 million-a-year to him, and then had a left tackle slip to them in the first round, who would cost them a lot less? That wouldn’t look particularly smart, considering the first-round tackle would have a lot less wear-and-tear, a much cleaner body medically, and would count a lot less against the cap.
Once again, hat-tip to Hughes for the scoop and having “multiple sources,” but you wonder if trading for Williams (which would involve draft capital) would be a pragmatic move for the Jets at this point.
March 9, 2020
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