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This is a move that many are dismissive of, but to me, it was impressive.
Talking about the Jets keeping wide receiver Allen Lazard, who most thought was a goner after his first two seasons with the team.
The Jets’ new brass did the right thing – bringing him back with a restructured contract.
The echo chamber was trying to run him out of town, but the guy is a good player, and Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougey went by the film, not the noise.
He’s not perfect- nobody is- but the positives far outweigh the negatives.
Before we get to his attributes as a receiver, want to get into his run blocking. Watching him the last couple of years, it’s hard to imagine there are many better run blocking receivers than this guy. He is elite in it’s area.
With the fantasy football mindset driving much of the NFL coverage these days, Lazard’s run blocking the last two years kind of went unnoticed by the media and public, but not to Glenn.
“Listen, anytime you have a player of that magnitude, he’s a really good blocker,” Glenn said last week. “I [coached] against him a number of times when he was in Green Bay, so I know what he brings to the table.”
A perfect example of this guy’s top-notch run blocking was in the Jets’ loss to Buffalo in October at MetLife Stadium.
Breece Hall had a 42-yard run on a pitch to the left side.
One of the key blocks on this play was Lazard locking up cornerback Taron Johnson.
Considering the Jets are going to need a dominating rushing offense to help buttress their new QB Justin Fields with plenty of play-action and bootleg opportunities, having a dominating run-blocking receiver is not a bad thing.
And while some people are obsessed with his drops, and I’m not sure who compiles these drops stats, and what criteria they use, I don’t think his hands are an issue.
All receivers have drops, including Garrett Wilson. It happens. And I think the word is probably used too much by some reporters and fans. I think we all know what a legitimate drop is. We all know what that looks like. On many other plays, it’s a gray area.
Three of the better-receiving plays of the 2024 season were passes to Lazard.
A 52-yard Hail Mary reception by Lazard in the aforementioned Buffalo game was a terrific play. In London against Minnesota, late in the first half, on third-and-10 from the 10-yard line, Aaron Rodgers stepped up to create time and rifled a pass to the middle of the end zone into heavy traffic for a TD to Lazard. Great throw. Great catch.
How about that TD on a free play after a flag was thrown against San Francisco? On third-and-8, defensive end Leonard Floyd jumped, and Rodgers got the snap off, and hit Lazard down the right seam for a 36-yard TD.
People are quick to destroy Lazard for his 2023 season with the Jets, but the quarterback play was bad that year, and as Santonio Holmes once famously said while with the Jets when people questioned his numbers – “I can’t throw the ball to myself.”
Lazard was so much better last season with Rodgers at QB with 37 receptions and six touchdowns in 12 games, missing five with an injury.
We all know there was no way he would make the $11 million salary he was slated to bank this year, the last of his three-year deal with the Jets. So often with three-year deals these days, they are really two-year deals because that is where the guaranteed money in the third year. Lazard had no guaranteed money this year, so he wasn’t going to see that $11 million with the Jets or anywhere else.
His new base salary is $2.25 million, with a chance to earn more money with game-by-game roster bonuses.
Smart move by the new brass to bring back this underrated player.
Smart move to ignore the social media hate directed at this player.
You should never govern by public opinion polls, and this move is a harbinger of things to come, so it doesn’t look like Glenn and Mougey will do that.
April 11, 2025
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