When do the Jets open their wallet? (ESPN Article)

[Megalomaniac]

[QUOTE]Going into an uncapped season, the Jets could be opening the checkbook to re-sign players without breaking any NFL rules. But Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum seems to be doing just the opposite.

Productive veterans like RB Thomas Jones and K Jay Feely were asked to take pay cuts, and they aren’t the only ones who have been affected. Running back Leon Washington, who is trying to renegotiate his contract, isn’t attending the voluntary workouts at Florham Park coming off a serious compound fracture. Even a veteran like FB Tony Richardson wasn’t secured at the start of free agency.

The fact that Feely will play for Arizona because the Jets wanted to save about $300,000 on his approximately $1.5 million salary is interesting. (Some Jets fans might have a better word to describe that, but this is a family blog.) The team doesn’t need that money to sign someone else, it doesn’t have a proven kicker on the roster and it will have to spend just as much to procure a name-brand replacement.

Looking at the Thomas Jones situation, the Jets parted ways with Jones after his 1,402-yard, 4.2 yards-per-carry season to sign San Diego’s LaDainian Tomlinson, who had 730 yards and averaged 3.3 yards per carry. You could certainly argue that the Jets didn’t want to pay Jones’ bonus, but the team didn’t save money in going for a likely future Hall of Famer. Two years ago, the Jets spent to get Brett Favre, and the one-year experiment didn’t end very well.

On Thursday, Bart Scott said that the Jets need to build toward this season, because what comes after is such a question mark.

“There’s a sense of urgency because we have a good team, we know we have a good team and we don’t know how long we’re going to keep these players together,” Scott said.

So why not secure proven players who helped the team reach the AFC Championship game? The fact that the Jets aren’t doing that, but are instead using a sum as relatively insignificant as $300,000 as a sticking point in a win-now year, is certainly curious.

Especially when you consider that less productive players, such as DE Vernon Gholston -- a third-year player Mel Kiper Jr. described as a bust -- will take up considerably more of the Jets budget.

Tannenbaum has made some smart moves, trading up for Mark Sanchez and Shonn Greene, but he has let contributors like Chris Baker and Pete Kendall slip away for far less than those rookies would see. Sometimes an unknown player can seem pretty tempting, but it may not be a sound strategy to overlook the player already in the system.

UPDATE: Adam Schefter reports that the Jets will host Neil Rackers, the Cardinals free agent kicker, on Tuesday.[/QUOTE]
they had me till the 2nd to last paragraph where they mention tannenbaum made a mistake for letting chris baker go. kendall, sure. baker, come on, really?

[url]http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/jets/post/_/id/40/who-gets-paid[/url]

[sg3]

Tannenbaum has made some smart moves, trading up for Mark Sanchez and Shonn Greene

and drafting Dbrick Ferguson, Nick Mangold, Leon Washington, Brad and Eric Smith, Darrelle Revis, David Harris, Dustin Keller along with Sanchez and Greene and signing Alan Faneca (miles better than out of football Kendall), Damien Woody, Bart Scott, Jim Leonard and trading for Kris Jenkins and Antonio Cromartie

[jrochwa]

The article brings up some interesting points but I think it's generally untrue.

First off, since the Jets reached the AFC championship game they are severely restricted in how they can sign free agents, they can not simply open up the checkbook without breaking any rules as the article suggests.

The point about Feely might be true. However, should if they sign a kicker as the Rackers visit implies, This would be disproved.

I don't agree with the point about dumping Jones and signing LT as a cost saving maneuver. I'm not sure how his LT's contract differs with TJ's but I don't believe it's less cash than Thomas would have accepted (correct me if I'm wrong. More importantly Tomlinson brings a different skill-set than Shonn Greene, in his ability to catch the ball, run screen plays, even throw it occasionally. Thomas Jones, though a great player for the Jets is now at a point in his career where he is likely a lesser productive North South runner than Greene. If we could say with certainty that Leon was his old self, we might have signed him to a contract and kept Jones on the team, as he probably would have been a nice backup to Greene in such a scenario. With Leon out last year, it was widely apparent that we were missing the important receiving element in our backfield. This would have aided our young QB tremendously in the rough patches of the season. Going into this year, we need to have some sort of a pass catching ability out of the backfield, we couldn't chance it with Leon only and this is why I truly believe that we let TJ walk. Not to save a few bucks (if it's really true).

Pete Kendall was dropped three years ago, what happened then is inconsequential.

I agree that letting Baker walk was a big mistake. He was not paid a lot of money and was a generally reliable option in the passing game when the ball was thrown his way. His run blocking was good, his pass blocking was adequate and he rarely got penalized. Did the Pats cut him? He would be a player I would like getting back.

[sg3]

I may be wrong but I believe Jones would have cost around 7 million this season (3 million roster bonus and the rest of his scheduled contract) whereas LT was signed for 5 million total for two seasons.

[estang74]

I don't agree with the point about dumping Jones and signing LT as a cost saving maneuver. I'm not sure how his LT's contract differs with TJ's but I don't believe it's less cash than Thomas would have accepted (correct me if I'm wrong. [B]More importantly Tomlinson brings a different skill-set than Shonn Greene, in his ability to catch the ball, run screen plays, even throw it occasionally. [/B]Thomas Jones, though a great player for the Jets is now at a point in his career where he is likely a lesser productive North South runner than Greene. If we could say with certainty that Leon was his old self, we might have signed him to a contract and kept Jones on the team, as he probably would have been a nice backup to Greene in such a scenario. With Leon out last year, it was widely apparent that we were missing the important receiving element in our backfield. This would have aided our young QB tremendously in the rough patches of the season. Going into this year, we need to have some sort of a pass catching ability out of the backfield, we couldn't chance it with Leon only and this is why I truly believe that we let TJ walk. Not to save a few bucks (if it's really true).

That is exactly what so many so called experts are missing. LT's Receiving ability out of the backfield is going to keep defenses honest. That is something that hurt us when Leon was injured. Greene and TJ are almost the same runner, they differ in that TJ doesn't fumble as much and Greene is a younger, stronger back. The move to get LT I think was a great move especially since he knows Shotty's offense also. Hopefully he can contribute and we will be in really good shape this year if he can.

[124]

[QUOTE=sg3;3546330]I may be wrong but I believe Jones would have cost around 7 million this season (3 million roster bonus and the rest of his scheduled contract) whereas LT was signed for 5 million total for two seasons.[/QUOTE]

Jones would've cost $5.8 million, but still, LT signed for a little bit less than that over 2 years.

[K-Met57]

a person that watches the Jets could not have written this article. The notion that Thomas Jones was the greatest thing since sliced bread is as stupid as the notion that LT is a bag of crap at this point in their careers.

[Ven0m]

Every team, every year, trims the fat off their budget.

The only reason this is a news story is because we haven't been able to re-spend that money on Free Agents thanks to the Final 4 rules.

And almost nobody sits down to re-negotiate deals with people under team control when they could be doing valuable draft preparation. That'll come after the draft.

[Jets_Penguin]

[QUOTE=estang74;3546353]I don't agree with the point about dumping Jones and signing LT as a cost saving maneuver. I'm not sure how his LT's contract differs with TJ's but I don't believe it's less cash than Thomas would have accepted (correct me if I'm wrong. [B]More importantly Tomlinson brings a different skill-set than Shonn Greene, in his ability to catch the ball, run screen plays, even throw it occasionally. [/B]Thomas Jones, though a great player for the Jets is now at a point in his career where he is likely a lesser productive North South runner than Greene. If we could say with certainty that Leon was his old self, we might have signed him to a contract and kept Jones on the team, as he probably would have been a nice backup to Greene in such a scenario. With Leon out last year, it was widely apparent that we were missing the important receiving element in our backfield. This would have aided our young QB tremendously in the rough patches of the season. Going into this year, we need to have some sort of a pass catching ability out of the backfield, we couldn't chance it with Leon only and this is why I truly believe that we let TJ walk. Not to save a few bucks (if it's really true).

That is exactly what so many so called experts are missing. LT's Receiving ability out of the backfield is going to keep defenses honest. That is something that hurt us when Leon was injured. Greene and TJ are almost the same runner, [B]they differ in that TJ doesn't fumble as much and Greene is a younger, stronger back. [/B]The move to get LT I think was a great move especially since he knows Shotty's offense also. Hopefully he can contribute and we will be in really good shape this year if he can.[/QUOTE]


They also differ in that Greene doesn't go down when you tap him on the shoulder and say stop. To say they are virtually the same is a misstatement. TJ "needed" a lot or carries to get going. Something that just wasn't going to be available this year. In effect he would have been useless in his new role. LT while never a back up does not need 20 carries just to get the motor started.

They also differ in that I dont think Greene will be very reliable. He will get injured....... a LOT....TJ while basically a north/south runner doesn't often get injured...probably because he doesn't waste our time trying to break tackles. ;)

[Ray Ray19]

[QUOTE]Tannenbaum has made some smart moves, trading up for Mark Sanchez and Shonn Greene, but he has let contributors like Chris Baker and Pete Kendall slip away for far less than those rookies would see. Sometimes an unknown player can seem pretty tempting, but it may not be a sound strategy to overlook the player already in the system.[/QUOTE]

I don't understand the need to mention Baker and Kendall, the Jets have since replaced both players with Keller and Faneca, far superior players.

The writer is a dumbass, he must hang out with Cimini.

Of course fans read this crap and start to get paranoid.

[Mainejet]

The offseason is not over. I personally believe the Jets will use this season being uncapped to lock up two of our best players in Revis and Mangold. The announcements are coming, for whatever reason the Jets are holding off on announcing it right now.

This article seems to give the impression that the Jets are cheap. Not true.

[RexRutha]

[QUOTE=K-Met57;3546382]a person that watches the Jets could not have written this article.. ..[/QUOTE]

Fully agree. It's ignorant to point to Kendall and Baker as critical blunders.

But the Feely point is a good one, if true. Maybe Rex was really p-o'd about the championship game. I don't know. Feely seemed to be the right kind of player for this team.

Also, why not sign Revis, Mangold, Ferguson, Harris, et al to long term contracts now before a cap kicks in?--Makes sense.

[bcess]

[QUOTE=RexRutha;3546404]Fully agree. It's ignorant to point to Kendall and Baker as critical blunders.

But the Feely point is a good one, if true. Maybe Rex was really p-o'd about the championship game. I don't know. Feely seemed to be the right kind of player for this team.

Also, why not sign Revis, Mangold, Ferguson, Harris, et al to long term contracts now before a cap kicks in?--Makes sense.[/QUOTE]

I liked Feely too, he seemed to be money most of the time, but you have to wonder if he is such a good player why did the giants cut him? and why did the fins cut him? and why did we let him walk? Probably something there we dont know about him.

[C Mart]

[QUOTE=jrochwa;3546319]The article brings up some interesting points but I think it's generally untrue.

First off, since the Jets reached the AFC championship game they are severely restricted in how they can sign free agents, they can not simply open up the checkbook without breaking any rules as the article suggests.

The point about Feely might be true. However, should if they sign a kicker as the Rackers visit implies, This would be disproved.

I don't agree with the point about dumping Jones and signing LT as a cost saving maneuver. I'm not sure how his LT's contract differs with TJ's but I don't believe it's less cash than Thomas would have accepted (correct me if I'm wrong. More importantly Tomlinson brings a different skill-set than Shonn Greene, in his ability to catch the ball, run screen plays, even throw it occasionally. Thomas Jones, though a great player for the Jets is now at a point in his career where he is likely a lesser productive North South runner than Greene. If we could say with certainty that Leon was his old self, we might have signed him to a contract and kept Jones on the team, as he probably would have been a nice backup to Greene in such a scenario. With Leon out last year, it was widely apparent that we were missing the important receiving element in our backfield. This would have aided our young QB tremendously in the rough patches of the season. Going into this year, we need to have some sort of a pass catching ability out of the backfield, we couldn't chance it with Leon only and this is why I truly believe that we let TJ walk. Not to save a few bucks (if it's really true).

Pete Kendall was dropped three years ago, what happened then is inconsequential.

I agree that letting Baker walk was a big mistake. He was not paid a lot of money and was a generally reliable option in the passing game when the ball was thrown his way. His run blocking was good, his pass blocking was adequate and he rarely got penalized. Did the Pats cut him? He would be a player I would like getting back.[/QUOTE]

This article is a joke.

As you point out the Jets can't spend $$ in the FA market due to the restrictions of the final 4 teams rule this year.

Kendall? He lasted 2 years in DC and was out of the league last year.

Baker was cut by the Pats after 1 year. Baker has since signed with Seattle.

Did the Jets miss Baker last year? No! Hartsock is a better blocker than Baker. Much better!

Based on the last 4-5 games of the Jets 2009 season LT is an upgrade over TJ just based on his ability to catch out of the backfield.

[WeskerLogan]

there is zero need to panic. let's not act like kids and have some patience, fellas.

[Dimitri_0515]

So what about the past few years, signing Pace and Faneca's huge contracts. Trading for Jenkins, another large contract. I'm sure if the Jets were allowed to, they would sign key free agents.

Something about the way the Jets handled the whole TJ scenario has me to believe that they knew he hurt his knee more than TJ revealed. The way he broke down at the end of the season was a clear image of hitting a brick wall. I don't think it had anything to do with money. But they signed a high profile free agent in Tomlinson and traded for another hefty contract in Cromartie.

[RexRutha]

[QUOTE=bcess;3546407]I liked Feely too, he seemed to be money most of the time, but you have to wonder if he is such a good player why did the giants cut him? and why did the fins cut him? and why did we let him walk? Probably something there we dont know about him.[/QUOTE]

That's a good point. Given the troubles the jets have had with K prior to him coming, you'd think they'd keep him just out of fear. Probably is something else. Certainly Rackers is not known to be that tough mentally--and as someone else said, he kicks in pristine conditions. NY/NJ will be tough on him in several ways.

Really doesn't make sense unless something else is going on.

[flgreen]

[QUOTE=Mainejet;3546401]The offseason is not over. I personally believe the Jets will use this season being uncapped to lock up two of our best players in Revis and Mangold. The announcements are coming, for whatever reason the Jets are holding off on announcing it right now.

This article seems to give the impression that the Jets are cheap. Not true.[/QUOTE]






Uncapped year or not. They can’t.



More then likely there will be a lock out in 2011, when football returns the cap will most likely be 18% less. Any one handing out Big contracts based on the 2009 cap is in for a major jolt

[KingofNY]

[QUOTE=Ven0m;3546389]Every team, every year, trims the fat off their budget.

The only reason this is a news story is because we haven't been able to re-spend that money on Free Agents thanks to the Final 4 rules.

And almost nobody sits down to re-negotiate deals with people under team control when they could be doing valuable draft preparation. That'll come after the draft.[/QUOTE]

Nice post... I think you might be right. :yes:

[JerseyJet80]

baker was horrible and overrated, danny woodhead would make a better TE