You're absolutely right. That's my mistake. The March 19th date is when the compensation flips from 6th to 4th. Resigning after that date would still bump it to a 4th. As such I release him and don't look back. The jets can draft a player in the 4th (higher chance of panning out than a 6th round pick) and save 10 million this season. With no guaranteed money in Harvin's contract there is no cap hit and that 10 million can be spent bringing in any number of free agents.
So what happens when Thomas & Dez resign Maclin and Cobb get Vincent Jackson money elsewhere and Torrey Smith goes back to Baltimore to stay with the perfect QB for him and we're then forced into reaching for a WR at 6? EEveryone's too concerned with this draft pick. If we cut Harvin and miss out in the big 5 or 6 free agent WR we're stuck with another year of David Nelson on the outside.
It blows my fucking mind that any Jets fan would want to keep a WR at 10 million dollars per season when he has NEVER had a 1,000 yard receiving season. Never. Even if you add in his rushing yards he has only had ONE season where he had a total number of yards over 1,000. On top of that he has only played 23 games in the last 3 seasons combined. Guy's like Harvin that average 600 - 700 yards per season last year like Tate and Sanders got contracts in the 5.5 million per season range. Desean Jackson who already had 3 1,000 yard receiving seasons and by every standard is a much better player then Harvin only got 9 million per season. Keeping Harvin on this contract along with giving up our 4th round pick, is dumber then signing Santonio Holmes for 10 million per season, and every single Jets fan trashes that move now. It was a nice little experiment to bring him in to see what he could do, but by every metric, he's not worth keeping.
What happens is we use a 2nd or 3rd round pick on a WR (green-beckham or jalen strong), we see if Shaq Evans is a decent 4th option, and we sign a non top tier WR. Decker is making 6.5 million next year. Decker is a much better receiver than Harvin but you don't mind paying Harvin an extra 3.5 million per year?!
This is spot on. $10 mil and a 4th for Harvin is beyond stupid. Keep him obviously until the 19th so they can retain some sort of leverage against the top FA WRs. My choice would be a Crabtree. He had a big 2012 then tore his achilles in 2013. Had a down year in 2014 for several factor (banged up, offensive philosophy) but still ended up with 68 catches. Wouldn't mind him on a Decker type deal.
That leaves us with too little speed on the outside in my opinion and no real threat for wide receiver screens, YAC, or deep balls. Crabtree's is an OK player but him and Decker are too similar of possession type receivers to pair together.
This is spot on. Couldn't say it better myself. And for people that say we have the money, why not spend it on Harvin... I would say that's what gets you into cap hell with a bunch of overrated players. You're also ignoring the fact that we've got other people like Wilkerson and Harrison grossly underpaid.
I can't see why we would keep Harvin even at a discounted salary. He's just not worth the salary and higher draft pick; when we can get Cobb or Maclin for less money, and not lose a 4th round pick to boot.
I still believe that you have to run the ball. And run it with some success. Or defenses will eat your quarterback. And the QB is the key to everything. Without a pass rush an elite secondary is a foolish expense. A good running attack neutralizes a lot of pass rush. Football will inch back toward the basic things that made it a success. The mad scientists may have a short day in the sun, but fundamentals will win out. A lot of the problem is with the recent rules changes that favor offense.
When looking at a #1 or #2 WR a fourth round draft pick is nothing by comparison. We had three fourth round picks last year and what do we have to show for it?
2015 Cap number has been announced. Jets have 156 mil for 2015 to spend. http://www.cnbc.com/id/102469476
I'd prefer they restructure Harvin (convert to signing bonus) and free up even more space for 2015. If Harvin doesn't pan out, just cut him before the 2016 season and move on. Free agency should be exciting. When can teams start to negotiate, Saturday?
I believe it's not until next Tuesday... March 10th. Edit: Nope, you're right. Negotiations start Saturday, signings start Tuesday.
This is a very interesting theory and I partly agree. It could also mean that teams counter act defenses with great secondaries by jamming the ball down their throats in the run game. it's just tough when teams like the Seahawks have amazing box players like Wagner or Carolina with Kuechly on their rookie deals. Imagine how good that Carolina defense could be with Davis, Kuechly, Davis, Hardy and Loutelie (spelling is wrong) if they could sign a top notch cornerback and didn't invest all their money in Stewart and DeAngelo Williams.
