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You knew he’d be chomping at the bit to fire back.
Manish Mehta was on vacation when Rich Cimini had his blockbuster story on February 19.
“The Jets want [Kirk Cousins] badly, and sources say they’re willing to pay whatever it takes — unless the Washington Redskins decide to tag him for a third time (unlikely),” wrote Cimini.
Mehta fired back today, at his friend Cimini, belittling his reporting.
“The speculation surrounding the Jets’ eventual pursuit of Kirk Cousins has prompted some much-needed comedic relief during the NFL’s silly season,” wrote Mehta. “There have been some whoppers in the past week or so. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think Woody and Christopher Johnson were willing to offer an ownership stake to the soon-to-be free-agent quarterback. Heck, why stop there? Why not just change MetLife Stadium to Cousins Coliseum? After all, that would be as probable as some of the unfounded stuff I’ve read in recent days that paints a wholly inaccurate picture of this situation.”
He also went after his friend Brian Costello.
New York Post headline – “$60M in 1st year? Jets set to creatively pounce on Kirk Cousins.”
“One league source speculated the Jets could front-load the contract and offer Cousins $60 million guaranteed in the first year of the contract,” wrote Costello. “That would still leave them with about $30 million in cap space this year and then allow them to build around Cousins with lower cap figures in the remaining years of the contract.”
Mehta trashed Costello’s reporting.
“The idea of paying him $60 million in the first year of a blockbuster deal is beyond ludicrous,” wrote Mehta. “Speculation that the Jets would be willing to absorb a $60 million cap hit in 2018 for Cousins so they could free up future cap space in subsequent years to build around the quarterback simply isn’t true, according to team insiders. It makes for good headlines, but it isn’t rooted in reality. It’s actually illogical on myriad fronts.”
It will be interesting to see if the Cimini-Mehta and the Costello-Mehta friendships will survive this.
But you know what, it’s hard to argue with Mehta, if you read the story, most of the stuff came from the Jets.
“Some folks on One Jets Drive have gotten a kick out of the unfounded rumors that they’re willing to break their budget for Cousins,” wrote Mehta.
Amazing to have sources like that. Not one person, “some folks.”
He also wrote, “They’ll be real players for Cousins, but they are not going to wildly overspend or make history by offering him a fully guaranteed four- or five-year deal, according to team sources.”
Do realize how incredible it is to have “team sources,” not just one source, but “team sources” on a story like this.
And an agent who represents a coach doesn’t count as a team source.
I have been covering the Jets for 24 years. I’m telling you, to get “sources,” on a story like his (especially since it’s tampering right now to talk about interest in a player) is reporting on the highest level. The highest!
And what makes this even more impressive is that so many people in the building aren’t fans of this reporter, so that makes the fact that he has “sources” in the building pretty remarkable.
“First and foremost, the Jets absolutely would love to sign Cousins in the coming weeks, according to team sources,” wrote Mehta.
Once again, to have “sources” on a story like this, not just one “source” is Woodward-Bernstein stuff.
I’m telling you I’ve been around this team a lot time. This is really hard to do.
Kudos to the reporter. This kind of sourcing is a journalistic tour-de-force.
February 23, 2018
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