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Everytime I put the Jets in a search engine this week
This headline comes up:
“New York Jets can halt disturbing trend with extension for safety Marcus Maye.”
The story was from ESPN.
What trend is the writer referring to?
“The Jets have 18 days to sign safety Marcus Maye to a contract extension or else he will play the season on the franchise tag ($10.6 million), setting up a likely departure in 2022,” wrote Rich Cimini. “For a couple of reasons, this is a litmus-test negotiation for the organization, which has trouble retaining its homegrown talent (see: Jamal Adams, Sam Darnold and Leonard Williams.).”
He added:Â “This is a big one for general manager Joe Douglas, who has yet to complete a splashy contract extension. (Sorry, I’m not counting tight end Ryan Griffin and guard Alex Lewis) Maye would be a good place to start. The former second-round pick is the longest-tenured player on the team and is well-respected in the locker room.”
I respectfully disagree.
This isn’t a “litmus-test” for the organization, whether they give Maye a long-term deal or not. Well actually, I stand corrected it is a litmus test on whether they learned not to overypay players, a big problem for prior regimes. Based on the contracts Douglas has given out, aside from Ryan Kalil, overpaying hasn’t been a problem.
As for keeping homegrown talent, Well first of all, if the homegrown talent wasn’t picked by the current regime, and in some cases doesn’t fit into the new plans, does that really count?
Now if guys like Zach Wilson, Alijah Vera-Tucker and Elijah Moore turn out to be solid players, and one or two of them depart before their second contracts, that is a problem. Those are guys Douglas picked, and who Robert Saleh also wanted, so if they aren’t here for the long-term, barring injury, that is a problem.
But trading Adams and Darnold made perfect sense. Adams wanted too much money from the Jets for a safety who plays mostly in the box, and Seattle is finding out the same thing, as he has yet to sign a new deal, and held out of their recent minicamp. To get a two first-round picks, and a third, for a safety, who plays mainly in the box, was tremendous value.
Why would the new regime want to retain “homegrown” Darnold when he wasn’t great at going through his progressions and turned the ball over too much? Getting three draft picks, including a valuable second-rounder, was a good value for the NFL’s lowest rated QB over the last three years.
The Williams’ trade was clearly not a good deal for the Jets because they only got 3rd and a 5th round picks, and Williams has played really well for the Giants.
But no, Douglas doesn’t need to “complete a splashy contract extension” to somehow validate his gravitas as a GM.
Overpaying for Maye, just to show people he can lockup homegrown talent, would be misguided.
Giving him a fair deal, but avoiding the Justin Simmons or Budda Baker contracts, in that $14-15 a year range, seems like a pragmatic plan.
So there is no “disturbing trend” for Douglas.
He’s actually trying to end the “disturbing trends” from the past, like reckless spending (see: Trumaine Johnson, Darrelle Revis (second stint), C.J. Mosley and Le’Veon Bell).
July 1, 2021
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