Bowles is drooling at the chance to unleash Big Cat Williams on top of the Sons of Anarchy, making an already elite D even more dangerous! Why would Mac trade one of those guys, weakening our D? If he's the kind of quality GM we think he is, he'll find a way to back load those contracts so that we can have at least a few years of those 4 guys together. I'm sick of this team settling for mediocrity because they are not willing to spend what it takes for a championship!
I hate when people say Richardson isn't as good without wilkerson or that he won't be good if he doesn't have wilkerson next to him. Jets were without Mo for the Vikings game and richardson produces 3 sacks and one of those being a safety. Richardson always plays his heart out and has a non stop motor, he has become my favorite player. I think we will be able to re sign them both. Richardson has another 3 years till his contract sitution happens. Resign Mo now and in three years we will have some high priced players off the books. We still aren't paying a qb, qb money which leaves a lot of extra cap space and shit maybe in three years the max cap number will probably be at 200 million lol the way it increases every year it's crazy.
To extend Mo right now the Jets would have to jigger several other contracts to make the space. The jiggering would either be outright paycuts for the people involved, and we're talking mostly people you can't cut and keep at this point, or it would create cap problems for the next couple of years as current salary was turned into bonus and prorated on the caps ahead. According to Overthecap the Jets have just $5.65M of cap space left for 2015 at this point. They have just $2.3M of 2016 cap space available, although this is a year out projection so a lot can change there. Suddenly we're close to cap strung. It's not clear whether or not the franchise tag fee for Mo is in the 2016 projections either. There isn't much wiggle room for the Jets here. Most of the higher paid players were either signed this year or are people with good-sized prorated cap hits moving forward. This is all reminiscent in a way of the Jets signing David Harris to his first big deal and then almost immediately having to go back to him and rework it to push money down the road when Revis held out.
Anybody who thinks either of those guys (or Suh himself) deserve 114M with 60 guaranteed is just insane. That's top tier QB money. not some defensive lineman.
I don't think the Jets can afford to give anybody a huge contract at this point. They spent like drunken sailors in free agency. They had to spend because of the 89% rule but if they wanted to keep Mo he had to be part of the spending. If he really wants to finish his career as a Jet he's going to have to propose a workable deal and he's probably going to have to do it before the trading deadline. BTW, I'd love to see him be a Jet his entire career but he's not Darrelle Revis All-Pro quality at this point. He's not going to get a J.J. Watt/Ndamukung Suh/Darrelle Revis type deal. He's not going to get a Robert Quinn (40 sacks and 13 forced fumbles over the last 3 years) deal either. It's a sad reality but you get paid like that for money stats and for a common recognition that you're in the elite at your position and for having a career year when you needed too. Mo has one of those things going for him and elite 3-4 DE's don't get paid at the top of the scale unless they have all 3.
Wilkerson is considered a shade below JJ Watt. Him and Watt are 1a and 1b in terms of the best D-linemen in the NFL. Wilk and his agent understand this, and that's why they're pushing for a big contract. The NFL recognizes that Wilkerson is one of the elite defenders, and still very young....he will get paid by someone, I just hope it's us! (as most fans do) And I do think that Mac can get this done, he just has to be a little creative in how he structures the deal.
Yes they did now it's time for them to pay one of their own. I understand where Mo is coming from and I don't blame him. He deserves to get paid not hardball bridge burning tactics.
51 sacks over 3 years vs 21. 12 forced fumbles vs 6. 53 stuffs vs 21. I'm sorry it's not the same thing. It's like comparing Bruce Smith vs any other great 3-4 DE in Smith's heyday. If Mo and his people are using J.J. Watt as the comp then this is already over. It's just a question of how long it takes the negotiations to bleed out until the Jets become convinced they have no chance to retain Mo and trade him.
So it's the morning after and the drunken sailor is lying on the sidewalk hung over. His wife comes over to him with their kids and demands the money he spent last night. Where does that go? Cap space is a commodity. You have X amount to give with a little wiggle room. Right now the Jets X = $5.65M this year and $2.6M in 2016.
He's not allowed to spend it though. The cap is the cap. If people could spend what they wanted too there'd be QB's making $100M a year right now. The thing that's hanging over this situation right now is the reality that the Jets may no longer be able to afford Mo Wilkerson. With their current cap situation and roster I'd be hoping something blows up in a training camp somewhere this summer and a really good QB shakes loose as a result. That's when you move heaven and earth to trade Mo for him and then start shuffling your cap to fit him in somehow. This roster is built to win right now with no QB in sight unless Geno finds it all of a sudden.
This wouldn't resolve anything. If the Jets traded for (Drew Brees or Philip Rivers) in August they'd have to scramble hard to find the cap space to fit them in, this even with Mo's $6.69M subtracted in the trade. Trading Richardson would only clear about half that from the cap and they'd still be unable to find cap space to sign Mo to an extension. The cap can be very unforgiving at times and for the Jets we're at that point right now only because they have a good young player they can't afford to extend at the moment. They get to play him for the year though under those restrictions.
If I had to pick 1 for a long term extension it would be Wilkerson, just from the standpoint of optimizing returns. Sheldon is under contract for another 2 years, plus a 5th year option, plus a potential franchise tag; so essentially we have him under control for 5 more seasons. If we sign Mo to a long term, then you have both he and Sheldon (plus Williams) under control for 5 years. Conversely, if you bypass extending Mo in order to do so for Richardson, then you lose Mo after this season or next and only have the trio together for 1 or 2 years.
Play it by ear, decide when the time comes. The time definitely hasn't come for Sheldon yet, and while it is time for Mo, it's not urgent... yet.
Sheldon has potential to be a HOF caliber player, but he certainty isn't doing himself any favors by running his mouth. Been out of the loop as of late, but after reading everything that has transpired over the past week+ ... I wonder how happy the FO is w/ Richardson. Leonard Williams could be taking HIS job.
Oh come one.... I like Wilk, think he's a very good player and hope the JETS find a way to lock him up longterm, but to say he's 1B to JJ Watt is Green Koolaid ridiculous
