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Why was this necessary?
On Wednesday, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport announced: “The New York Jets worked the phones in the lead-up to Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET deadline in search of a major addition at wide receiver. New York checked on the availability of three notable names: Raiders receiver Davante Adams, Buccaneers pass-catcher Mike Evans and Bengals wideout Tee Higgins, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Wednesday on The Insiders.”
Why?
Was this a need?
I really don’t get this story.
Look, there is nothing wrong with “turning over every stone” as Mike Tannenbaum liked to say, but if you really do a deep dive on this, and are objective about it, this really wasn’t a need.
They just traded Mecole Hardman because they had a surplus at the position.
They claimed they traded Hardman because they really like rookie free agent Xavier Gipson.
Well then throw him the ball more.
They really like rookie free-agent receiver Jason Brownlee.
Then make him active and throw him the ball
They have another young receiver they like in Irv Charles, who has emerged on special teams as a very good punt cover guy. He is 6-4, 228 pounds. Get him involved if you are looking for receivers.
And if you have Garrett Wilson entrenched as your #1 receiver, why would you look to bring in another #1 receiver like Adams or Evans? Higgins is more of a #2.
But why would you need Higgins, when you have a similar type of big receiver in Allen Lazard, who was paid big bucks in free agency this past off-season?
So you have Wilson as the #1, Lazard as the #2 and Randall Cobb as the #3, and then Gipson, Brownlee and Charles? Where is the need?
Maybe it’s a need if you are a fantasy football player.
Some would argue that the Jets need a better weapon opposite Wilson.
That is hogwash.
They will point to Cobb’s three catches to make their point.
Cobb just having three catches on the season isn’t his fault.
He is generally not the first or second read in what has become mainly a one-read passing offense.
That is why Hardman had just one catch, and Gipson, the guy who supposedly made Hardman expendable, only has one catch.
This whole concept, which you heard after Rapoport made his announcement, that the Jets looking for a better option opposite Garrett Wilson is a dubious argument.
What difference does it make if you add a new weapon at receiver when the QB generally doesn’t get past his first read?
As Santonio Holmes once famously said when his numbers were down one year with the Jets, “I can’t throw the ball to myself.”
As an old coach once told me, “Quarterbacks make receivers, receivers don’t make quarterbacks.”
This isn’t to say that you don’t need quality weapons at receiver, but more to say that adding a lot of weapons to help a QB who doesn’t see the field well, is fool’s gold.
It rarely helps.
The Detroit Lions once picked receivers in the first round three years in a row to help struggling QB Joey Harrington, and it didn’t help.
Not sure of the point of those phone calls, unless the shoulder injuries to Cobb and Charles are more serious than being reported.
November 2, 2023
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