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None of this is a complaint.
It’s just an observation.
Free agency started March 12. They have signed 16 players – QB Justin Fields, CB Kris Boyd, TE Stone Smartt, DT Byron Cowart, DT Jay Tufele, DT Derrick Nnadi, LB Jamin Davis, RB Kene Nwangwu, C Josh Myers, OT Chuk Okorafor, CB Brandon Stephens, S Andre Cisco, DE Rashad Weaver and P Austin McNamara.
And they re-signed LB Jamien Sherwood and CB Isaiah Oliver.
It is now March 21, and none have been made available to the media.
There have been interviews with some of these players on the team website, but not in the mainstream media.
Most teams have made their signings available.
The reason I know this is because I do a radio show every Saturday on SiriusXM NFL Radio and we run a lot of soundbites, and the last couple of weeks have had plenty of sound from player introductory press conferences from all over the league.
New England even had a major press conference on March 13 with Patriots Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft, Patriots Executive Vice President of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf, Patriots Head Coach Mike Vrabel, introducing free agent additions CB Carlton Davis III, OT Morgan Moses, LB Robert Spillane, and DT Milton Williams.
Once again, none of this is a complaint. There are no rules for off-season player availability. None. I’m not an entitlement person. They owe us nothing.
The NFL dictates strict player availability rules during the season, but at this time of year, there are none, so if they choose not to make people available, that is their right.
It truly is.
The only reason I’m writing this is to explore what might be going on here.
Under a new head coach, Aaron Glenn, a Bill Parcells disciple, are they becoming more of a closed society, and not worrying about the outside press as much, people Parcells used to call “commies?”
Perhaps. The Jets have been treated very poorly by the media over the last few years, especially the New York Times’ owned website, “The Athletic.”
So this could be a little bit of a “screw you” to the mainstream media, which isn’t particularly popular these days anyway.
Some people might say, “Good for them.”
Also, Glenn completed his coaching staff a while ago, and no new assistant coaches have been made available either.
Other teams have made their new assistants available since the hirings, especially new coordinators, but the Jets have not.
Once again. It is their right, and I’m not complaining.
This article is more observatory than a grievance.
I think too many sports writers rely on quotes too much anyway. For the most part the quotes are loaded with cliches and not a lot of meat on the bone.
“What attracted you to sign with this team?”
“The culture, the people.” Blah, blah, blah.
In the old days, way before I started, you hardly saw quotes in sports stories.
Most quotes are a waste of time.
Also, even with the signings, the coach and GM have not been made available to comment on them. Other teams have made their brass available.
Not a big deal.
The only reason I’m writing that is to point out what is going on, not to judge anybody.
They are a private company and they are free to do what they want until the season starts when league rules kick in regarding availablity.
But you have to wonder if the new sheriff in town, a Parcells and Sean Payton (not a big fan of media access either) disciple, is having the team pull back a little bit – focus more on winning on the field and less on winning in press conferences.
March 21, 2025
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