Just for the sake of controversy, where would our offensive production be if we didnt have him last year.
What price is the right amount for extending him now? I doubt he will want to sign at a reasonable price. If he did, so be it, and that would probably be better than going into the season and watching him go FA. So, what if he does not want to sign now at a reasonable price?
Thought about it some more. Keller shows no signs of getting any better than he has been. It may be that the best move with him is to NOT extend him, and keep him on his current contract this year, tag him next and let him walk. He's just not worth what top TE's are getting these days, and the Jets already have too much money tied up in contracts. If he were a better fit for the O, I would feel differently. He's not. Best i can do.
a reasonable price for keller in my mind would be the 3 million a year he's getting this year. keller is not committed and is a wuss. doesn't block and wouldn't make the effort to tackle a guy right in front of him when sanchez gets intercepted. he's a one way big pussy of a tightend that shouldn't be too hard to replace with a guy that wants to be a "football player"!
I would love to see the statistics of how many times Sanchez missed Keller last year. Granted, Keller had some drops last year, but Sanchez missed him a boat load.
Aw shucks that was a nice thing for you to say. However, I must respectfully decline. Who else would be there to point out the most egregious examples of your never-ending supply of backwards logic if I were gone?
Keller shows no signs of improvement? Are you serious? You say we need a TE that can block and when he doesn't he will surprise the Ds. News Flash: Keller doesn't surprise any Ds, yet gets a handful of plays. I don't care if he surprises a D or not. I don't care what the D thinks when he's in. If they think when DK is in there, its a pass, and they still can not stop him, he ought to be pretty good. He ran 4.53, which is pretty good for a TE. He can create separation. Half the time, he lines up at WR. If you think he can't surprise the D, then when he lines up at WR, Ds will think its a pass. A smart OC will know that every now and then, rushing the ball with DK in the slot can pay dividends. Thats where the fucking deception comes from and thats where the damn idea that Schotty was too stubborn to change his stupid playcalling comes from. You think he's a bad fit. I say screw that. He's the MOST consistent Jet to play on the offense as a skill player. He HAS been improving regardless of what you think. Stats don't lie. Have a look at his play. When our fucking offense stunk it up last year, he was the most consistent player out there so I suggest you stay quiet when talking about his consistency. His blocking wasn't the best coming out of college, but it has improved. And I really don't need ur opinion to tell me that. The fact the Jets are talking contract with him suggests they like him, think he's a good fit for the team, and want to keep him on the roster. See the video below (couldn't find one with DK highlights alone): [YOUTUBE]AnLLtzC8_l4[/YOUTUBE] 0:35 - Goal line - Quietly slips past LBs and "surprises" them. What, you expect him to surprise the D on every single play now? 2:29 - Again slips past the LBs and creates seperation, knowing very will where to be in zone coverage. The very next play, he sits in a zone wide open, but Sanchez throws to Holmes for a TD. 3:20 - Again, he slips past the LBs for a huge gain, something our WRs were incapable of doing. Great with the ball and has good moves for a lot of yards after catch. Just look at this play. A simple move gave him extra 15 yards. 3:31 - Lines up in the slot, runs a slant. The D is ready for the slant, yet gets a step on the defender and its all he needs for a catch to score another TD 5:34 - Lines up next to RT. Doesn't have to do much, but keeps the edge sealed for a 20 yard throw for TD. 5:44 - Finds a soft spot in the zone and sits there wide open, but sanchez passes it to Holmes again for another TD. 7:04 - Draws double cover in goal line situation leaving Burress to go one on one against the corner. 7:49 - Goal Line - Lines up all the way to the right and just shoves the Linebacker out of the play. Shonn Greene uses that EXACT gap and dives in for the TD. So much for his blocking. 9:10 - Goal Line - Seals the edge on the left side against two defenders, one of whom is shoved by DuCasse of all people. Jets score a TD off a fumble, but with sealing the edge, the RB doesn't get stuffed 3 yards behind LoS 9:36 - Creates seperation from the TE position, but Sanchez finds Burress for a TD. 9:46 - Bails Sanchez out. Slips past the LBs and quietly sits in a zone for Sanchez. Pulls another good move on the safety or corner and pretty much takes two defenders hanging on him to the EZ, kinda like the Braylon move on Merriweather and the CB couple years ago. 10:14 - Again, slips past the LBs and draws double coverage leaving Holmes open for a TD. 11:34 - Seals the right edge to sell the naked bootleg. 12:34 - Lines up at WR, and creates a couple of steps on the corner, but Sanchez finds Holmes again for a TD. 12:53 - Gets shoved off balance at GL, but does just enough so that Sanchez can sneak in for a TD originally designed for pass to DK himself. 13:13 - Slips past the LBs perfectly. Nobody notices and is wide open for another TD. Did you see how many times he 'slipped past the LBs', mostly without them noticing? I call that surprise or deception. Those were some of the highlight plays of course as I can't go and dissect 800+ plays for you. But from what I see (and hopefully u can see too), DK is a HUGE part of the Jets offense. He's part of pretty much every TD drawing double coverage on several occasions or just finding several soft spots in zone coverage. He'll tear that zone apart. He'll create separations going up against LBs, something our WRs were unable to do, albeit against CBs. He's also one of the first ones to celebrate a TD. Yeah, not that it matters with the game, but it shows he enjoys the game. And for him playing lousy, yeah every now and then he'll have the ball hit his helmet, but there's a designed play. A receiver can not just look at his QB for the whole play. If the do, the defender then gets a hint and can close in quickly. The reason why those passes hit him on the helmet/shoes/whatever is because the protections broke down too quick and Sanchez just has to release the ball earlier than planned. Is it annoying? Yes. Is it his fault the protection broke down early? No. Do I expect him to know when protection will break down early? No. Do I expect him to make those catches? Less than half the time. He plays with heart out there and if you haven't noticed that, just have a look at the Ray Lewis hit. He's not afraid of one of the best LBs in the NFL for years. He'll take him on every time. He got up right away and didn't seem like "OMG, my vagina hurts, ala Randy Moss". He'll go airborne to get extra 3 yards. I don't know many players who would. Is it smart? Maybe not, but it definitely shows that he doesn't play like a wuss. He's got a great vertical jump and can leap for a high ball, giving him a huge advantage over most the safeties and several LBs. He's got one of the best hands amongst all TEs. He also is one of the fastest TE in the NFL. He was a WR in high school who later on switched to TE. Its not a surprise he lines up at WR most of the time. His blocking is adequate for a pass catching TE. And yes, he HAS been improving. If he plays like wuss and uninterested, he still lead the Jets with Receptions, yards and TDs so I don't care how he plays. Can he improve his blocking? Yes, but this is not the Mangini era anymore. Jets will play to their players skills and thats why you see him line up at WR half the time. So stop that nonsense of yours and pay some damn attention to the games rather than bitching about his scouting report from college.
Here is a nice break down from the NYJ cap site: http://www.nyjetscap.com/2012_Articles/dustinkellerprice.php So much for all that 5 million is too much talk. Keller at 5 to 7 is right in the ball park for a young, productive TE. No he's not all world and is inconsistant at times, but he's by far the most skilled TE on the roster and is a matchup problem for defenses. Letting him walk without a solid contributer behind him would be a mistake at this point. All we have behind him at TE is potential.
youre right. Because Sanchez sucks. Thats why we're gonna run more and use teh wildcat more. Soooooo, why spend 5 or 6 million dollars on a TE that cant block my mother?
The thought of paying Keller close to 7 million a year is absolutely atrocious. If the Jets went something like 5 years 25 million with 15 million guaranteed and up to 5 million more in difficult to reach incentives id be o k with that. But the contract numbers like TEs like Zach Miller are getting (who is far better than DK when healthy imo), he just doesnt deserve it. If theyre smart theyll have him play out his contract now. Tag him next year, then let him walk or talk about a deal then (if he can play well for the next 2 years) Otherwise it makes no sense to me
I do appreciate your viewpoint here. I think that you need to at least appreciate the viewpoint that the market is the market as well. Keller is a valuable commodity in the eyes of any team in the league, including our own. I'm not sure what the best course of action is to maximize that commodity for us, but the answer is certainly non-trivial and the results of any negotiations will be deeply impactful to our team.
The fact is DK isn't a good 1st choice for a run first team. Nobody can argue that. And hes under contract for this year. Which means hes ours for another full year for him to still "prove it". And if hes good enough this year, we have the tag (which will essentially pay him what he wants every year for 5 years for only 1). And if he can prove that hes worth it by then lock him up. I see no point in "negoitations" fact is DK is ours plain and simple. Keller has only had one "good" year, and he was only good at recieving. Hes still useless at blocking. Why pay a guy elite money when hes only good at half his job, and not the half that we need. If we lock him up instead of playing out his deal then tagging him is a mistake. TE's that are one dimensional are dime a dozen. Its the ones that can block and catch that are worth the big bucks
His value for us would increase tremendously if one of our guys could pan out as a strong blocking TE option. That would free us to use Keller for what he is good at more often without leaving big blocking liabilities in his wake. You can't convince me that extending a young top big body receiver is unilaterally inferior to making plans to have him walk out the door in a year or two. I can't convince you of the inverse, but I don't want to.
Theres nothing making him walk out the door. If he can play at an elite level the next 2 years you extend him at the value he deserves when hes a FA in 2 more years. I think a huge part of why Keller had such a successful year was that our WRs as a whole blew, which meant our QB was looking towards him more often than he should. Which explains why his yardage total/reception #s were so high (from being forced a ton of passes) and also explains why his reception % sucks (from passes being forced) The leverage is with the FO. Hell the leverage will still be with the FO even after this season. At the absolute minimum you let him play out this year, then use the franchise tag as leverage to lock him up longterm this offseason. Less risk to the club by making a guy repeat his performance, instead of signing a guy for elite money off of one year of pretty good production
In that situation you're in a bidding war for a proven elite talent in FA with a perpetually cap-strapped franchise. Preparations to send him away. I'm not saying your idea is wrong. It may well be right. I'm just saying there's another side to the coin. And that I'm not sure what the "right" side is. You are. Fine, I guess.
