Manglod was a great Jet but the last 2 years not nearly the same player. The Jets did the right thing by moving on without asking for a decrease in pay
Mixed feelings because Mangold will go down as one of the best Jets but I think it was time. I would have been good with him staying as well but also recognize that he's 33 years old and is not as dominant at his position as he used to be. The 9+ million in cap saved by cutting him is really nice and I think there will be a bunch more cuts coming. Getting rid of a player a year early rather than a year too late is what makes team great, look at Steelers and Pats as two primary examples of this. Furthermore, I am anticipating there to be quite a few more cuts, and for the team to have 50+ million in cap space.
Let's be real clear about this - the team, including players, coaches and management, let down the fans; the fans have no apologies to make. I certainly am not losing any sleep over Mangold not having won a championship.
Last year we lost Snacks because someone in our front office thought that he was not worth the money. We let a young all-pro player just hitting his prime go to resign Mo and to keep veteran players (including Mangold and Revis) that let all of us down last year. Now there is all this talk about letting Sheldon Richardson go for a lousy third or fourth round pick because of the money he will cost. If we do this to save money and pay Revis, Decker, etc. we will end up regretting it.
I think we lost Snacks because the FO couldn't wrap its brain around the idea that re-signing him at the end of 2014/beginning of 2015 was a major value move. He was 26 at that point with 4 years left that you could project and the Jets had one of them for free plus a possible comp pick if he left. The team would have been much better off finding a trade for Mo Wilkerson and signing Snacks to an affordable deal when he still had a full year to go before he could hit free agency and let the market set his price. Instead we dicked around with Mo for another year, let Snacks contract expire and got a "wow" moment when the Giants told us what Snacks was worth on the open market. We could have re-signed Snacks to a 5 year $25M deal at the end of 2014 and had our NT through 2019 with the option to let him go after 2018 if he didn't age well.
As much as I (like every other Jet fan) loved and respected Nick, I have to be honest and realize he had lost a bit of his dominance in the trenches, in the middle. 3rd and 1's were no longer guaranteed. 16 dominating games, in a row, were no longer guaranteed. Covering for a weakness at either guard spot was not longer as assured as it was 10 yrs ago. Nick was at his best (as was much of the team) under Rex Ryan, keeping a rookie signal caller on his feet all the way to the AFCCG, twice. 15 mins from the SB, twice, was as close as Nick could take us. We started to lose Nick Mangold when the Geno Smith era commenced. O-Line heroics are harder to come by when you're in your thirties, and too many times a heroic effort by Nick and his men would end it a pick-6 or a QB sack/fumble by a young QB no one could connect with. No one liked. Nick probably saw the way 2015 ended as his last shot at a ring. He'd stay around for the $'s, but I'd like to see him move onto a contender for his last yr or two. Maybe he'll follow Ellis to NE?
This is SOOOOO spot one. Losing Snacks when we could have signed him for peanuts the yr before is probably the biggest mistake Mac has made. Right up there with Revis.
I was basically called names here by someone for wanting them to sign Snacks, and got into several 'debates' over it. I understood tho that Mac was dealing with a hand of cards dealt by circumstances not to his advantage. But sometimes you have to judge a player by what's inside his heart and head and to me Snacks was The Man out of all them. Guys indomitable, and did much more than "play part time". I think fans overrate Sheldon. I acknowledge his athleticism and competitiveness, but I don't see him being worth any big money, on top of the risk factor. A team friendly deal would be okay if there's no market. But even then there's a good chance Sheldon will create some distraction and he's not the kind of player that is worth that imo, I don't know if any payer is worth that anymore.
We didn't "lose" Snacks, and we didn't let him go to pay Mangold and Revis. That's not even close to reality. We let Snacks walk because he wanted ridiculous money for a 2-down NT, and we couldn't afford to invest that much money in the DL, because Mo needed to be paid, and Williams will be soon. If we trade Richardson, it is because he is a screw up, and is one screw up from being suspended for a season. He also caused problems in the locker room, and made it be known that he expects to be paid when his present contract expires. It won't be so we can Pay Revis and Decker. Again, that's totally ridiculous and bears no relation to the truth or reality.
I couldn't possibly disagree more with this post. Snacks is a 2-down player. You don't pay a 2-down player the kind of money he wanted, no matter how good he is. The team would NOT have been better off trading Mo and keeping Snacks. The only way that becomes even remotely true is if now that Mo got paid, his play slacks off again this season. Richardson is a screw up and a suspension waiting to happen. There's no way we were going to or should pay Mo, Williams, Richardson and Snacks. Richardson needs to go, and Snacks did too. Mo is great vs the run and can consistently pressure opposing QBs. Snacks can't do the latter. You don't know what we could have signed Snacks for, so please don't talk as if you had insider information and know for a fact that Snacks would have signed for that amount.
So now do we resign Smith to a one year deal to serve as the sacrificial lamb behind the paper line or de we just serve up Petty or Hackenberg to fill that role?
I think Geno is one of the better options vs. any of the other FA/trades, depending on his salary and what, if anything, he's promised about starting.
We can wait and see what Mac does with the tackle positions, he also might bring back Wesley to play center and draft another center in the later rounds of the draft for depth, or he may sign someone of another teams PS. It's not a given that whoever plays QB will be a sacrificial lamb, and I would prefer if the jets moved on from Smith.
You are wrong about Snacks and you are wrong about Sheldon. They are both extremely talented, dominating players with freakish athleticism. I can only hope the front office gets at least half of the equation right.
Yes Richardson is freakishly athletic, but it doesn't matter when he is also freakishly stupid, and we can't afford to pay him. Even if we could, it would be totally stupid to tie up 1/3 of the team's cap in the DL when that unit isn't the most important in a 3-4 alignment. Snacks wanted too much money and doesn't generate enough pressure on opposing QBs.
Agreed. And what about the "negativity factor" he brings? At some point you would think this organization would wake up and realize that you need players who have good character to build your team. If they aren't, get rid of them. As Branch Rickey once said: "It's addition by subtraction", and that's as true today as it ever was.
