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It’s okay to spend
big money in free agency, but you have to the pick the right positions and the right players.
NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah made a salient point today about what not to do.
“It’s okay to have those high-ticket items, but what you can’t do, and this goes back to the Jets, you can’t spend all that money on C.J. Mosley,” Jeremiah said on his podcast, brought too you by Zaxby’s. “That is not an impact enough player to be sinking that much money into.”
The prior GM gave Mosley a five-year deal for $85 million with $51 million guaranteed in 2019. He played parts of two games in 2019 due to a groin injury, and then opted out this season due to COVID-19, after collecting a $10 bonus in the spring.
But his lack of production over his first two years with Gang Green is kind of irrelevant. It’s just not smart business, to spend that kind of money, on an inside linebacker. The second highest-paid inside linebacker in football is Atlanta’s Deion Jones, who got “just” $34 million guaranteed.
Some people ripped Joe Douglas for not spending more in free agency last off-season, but don’t for a second think he won’t pull the trigger on big contracts, but it has to be the right player at the right position. And you can look at his first two picks as perfect examples of potential big deals down the road – left tackle Mekhi Becton and wide receiver Denzel Mims. Those guys have looked real good early, and if they continue to produce over the next few years, those are the kind of guys you pay. Two are two positions you should pay big money are franchise left tackle and #1 receiver, just like you do for franchise QB, lockdown corner and game-wrecking edge-rusher
The best blueprint to build a team, and Douglas knows this, is draft well, develop and re-sign.
Not many winning teams have “overpay an ILB” in their salary cap blueprint . . .
Some people would say that Sam Darnold’s possible return this week could “spark” the 0-10 Jets.
Joe Flacco threw five touchdown passes in the last two games.
Sam Darnold had three touchdown passes total in his six starts.
I’m not looking to pick on Darnold, and I know he didn’t have all the Jets receivers in the fold like Flacco had the last two games, but no sure Darnold is an upgrade over Flacco right now.
But I totally get why they will start him if his shoulder is okay. They want to see what he can do down the stretch, to determine if he is the team’s QB of the future, or if they will look to pick a QB high in the draft.
So you get that part.
But as far as Darnold being an upgrade over Flacco, not sure is that’s truly the case.
I know Flacco threw a costly pick in each of the last two games, but overall, he played fairly well, and seemed to have a good thing going with Mims.
What he did very well in Los Angeles was “throw” Mims open. That means he threw it to him in tight coverage, and let him go up and get the rock. He did that several times, resulting in three big catches, and a long pass interference penalty.
Darnold hasn’t been big on throwing receivers “open.” He likes to see guys open first and then throw a rocket.
So it will be interesting to see how the Darnold-Mims combo works together compared to the Flacco-Mims combination, which was pretty impressive against Los Angeles.
November 25, 2020
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