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The Jets re-signed outside linebacker Calvin Pace today. This came as a little but of a surprise. Let’s take a look at the decision to bring him back . . .
The Jets released Pace early this off-season in a cost-cutting move. Today, they brought him back at a lower number.
ESPN wrote the following about Pace – “Pace didn’t become the pass-rusher the Jets envisioned, never eclipsing eight sacks in a season.”
I respectfully disagree with that.
He had a total of 14 sacks in his five seasons with the Arizona Cardinals, prior to signing with the Jets in 2008.
That is less than three a season. His highest sack total in Arizona was in 2007, when he had 6.5 sacks.
He is an average pass rusher. He’s not bad, but he’s not great at it.
His forte is being an all-around solid linebackers.
And I will never forget when he arrived after signing a big money contract in 2008 (a six-year, $42 million deal that included $22 million in guaranteed) with the Jets, he said, “I’m not a savior.”
I think he sensed that people expected Lawrence Taylor was coming to town as a pass rusher for that kind of money, and it wasn’t going to happen.
During his first five years with the Jets, he had 28 sacks, so that is an average of 5.5 a year. Considering his best year in Arizona was 6.5 sacks, his sack average with the Jets sounds about right.
And in his defense on the sack front, he’s had a lot of QB pressures over his time with the Jets, which are almost as important as sacks. If you get the quarterback to throw the ball before he wants, resulting in an incompletion, that is a successful play for a pass rusher.
I have to admit I was surprised by the re-signing of Pace, but that more I thought about it, the more it made sense.
First of all, he’s clearly not making a lot of money. The contract figures on his new one-year deal aren’t out yet, but it’s obviously not as much as the $3 million he was scheduled to make this year on his old deal.
Secondly, while he’s 32, he’s a tremendously-conditioned athlete who really takes good care of his body.
I hear he likes to shop at the Whole Foods by Jets camp, and buys a lot of healthy stuff.
He’s 6-4, 260 pounds with very little body fat. He’s got a six-pack stomach (that term doesn’t mean he drinks six packs – lol, it means his stomach is a rock).
And while Pace isn’t a star, he is a very steady player who you know what to expect from week-in, and week-out. He’s a smart player who rarely blows assignments.
Also, he knows Rex’s defensive system like the back of his hand. He could probably be an assistant coach if he wanted to be. System familiarity is very important in the NFL. The playbooks are very complex.
So on so many levels this re-signing makes sense.
We need to get off this sack-obsession with Pace. He’s not a double-digit sack player. That just isn’t his game.
April 16, 2013
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