Not with 100% certainty, no, but it's what I now believe to be true. Mo was one of the best players the Jets had. They had a lot of cap space in 2014. Idzik might have low-balled Mo or thought he could just wait until 2015 to sign him, but I think he did try to sign him. Why? Because, while I think that Idzik was not qualified to be a GM, I don't think he is a liar. He said he was trying to re-sign Mo. Mac could have thought from day 1 that he would trade Mo. A month or so ago, I had that thought myself. Why would Mac have had that thought from day 1, however? He was new to the team. He didn't really know the players. He didn't really know Bowles or what kind of players Bowles wanted in his scheme. IMO the only reason he would have had that thought or knowledge is because he learned how much Mo wanted, and knew he'd never agree to pay him that, but why do that without talking to Mo and his agents and trying to come to some compromise? He wouldn't have thought the Jets had too much money tied up in the DL because at that point Mac didn't know that he was gonna get Williams in the draft, or that Snacks was gonna get offered $10 million by the Giants. He may have known that Richardson had more potential/talent/upside than Mo, and at that point I think Richardson had better stats because Richardson had won DROY. He still needed two DEs, however, so why decide from day 1 to trade Mo? Mac's a smart man. Why would he decide from day 1 that he was going to trade Mo? If it wasn't the money, why would he decide something so silly his first day on the job? Do you think Mac is biased against Muslims? IMO the only thing that makes any sense at all when viewed in relation to the things that Mac has said and the job he has done so far, is that he has legitimately tried to sign Mo and Mo and his agents are just being unreasonable and greedy.
if he was trying to lowball Wilkerson though : Do you think Maccagnan would actually say that? "yeah we're trying to low ball him but he wont budge" of course not. He'd come out and say they are legitimately trying to sign him to make it appear Mo's agents are unreasonable and greedy. Which is what is happening. You are taking him at that word, I'm just saying you can't, because its only one side of the story and nobody knows what he is being offered. My guess is the contracts Wilkerson's team is seeing other, lesser DL get is leading them to suggest he deserves that type of money and the Jets just can't or won't give it to him. aka... Everyone (on both sides) are doing their job properly & reasonably
If Mo is asking for a top of the line contract his cap hit this year is about the same as his cap hit in the average year of that contract. If the Jets backload the deal some, which they'd have to do given the cap realities this year then you're likely talking a cap hit over $16M in the average year of the deal moving forward. That's just not doable for a 3-4 DE or a 3T tackle. The teams that pay that way deserve their crappy finishes.
I read something last week that showed the stats of yards per carry with Snacks on the field compared to off. The difference was like .6 yards. The difference for McLendon was like 2.7. We'll be just fine with McLendon I heard that Mac heard that if trump was elected president then he was going to deport all Muslims to Mexico so I think he's just trying to get what he can while he can.
Why would Mac lowball one of his best players and risk losing him? This is even more true when one considers the fact that the Jets had a ton of cap space last year and next year. Why in his first big negotiation with one of the better Jets' players who has been a great citizen, would he lowball him, risk looking like an incompetent idiot, and losing Mo? We do know that Mo wanted $40 million in guarantees last year. That is way too much for a player of Mo's stature, even as good as he is. He isn't THAT good.
not wanting to give him $40 million in guaranteed money could be considered low balling him. Marcell Dareus got $60 mill guaranteed from Buffalo and Wilkerson is at the very least on par with Dareus.
Not by any sane person with any knowledge of football. $40 million in guaranteed money is a LOT. Only great players, HOF types should get that kind of guaranteed money. Just because Rex and the idiots in Buffalo are insane doesn't mean that Mac should be.
Olivier Vernon just got over $40 million guaranteed. You think Wilkerson would, or should take less?? His agents aren't being unreasonable they would be doing their jobs asking for $40 mill
Dareus got $42.9M guaranteed according to OTC. Suh got $60M from the Fins. Following bad contract lines is generally a very bad idea. J.J. Watt got $21M guaranteed. It's just not doable. If Mo really wants the highest offer he's going to find it out on the open market somewhere next year. That's assuming he plays well this year and does not get hurt. His market value could be significantly lower by this time next year given that he has gotten hurt at the end of two seasons now. The bottom line is that he really does not want to play for the Jets. A deal would have gotten done otherwise.
Mo was asking for that last year. This year, he's probably asking for 2-3 times that. We're just gonna have to agree to disagree. I like Mo, but imo he's not a great player or HOFer and not worth that kind of money. If other teams want to be nuts and way overpay players, fine, let them.
Right, but they didn't have to do this 2 years ago when free agency was 2 years away. This smells like a power play to get the Jets to overpay. Mo always wanted the best deal out there and he took huge risks two years running to get it. There's no reason to believe he's ever going to sign a reasonable deal with the Jets at this point. Really, there was no reason to believe that 2 years ago when Idzik exercised the 5th year option and last year when Mo did not want to negotiate in season. He's obviously looking for a huge deal with a lot of guaranteed money. More power to him for valuing himself that way. I hope the Jets manage to get some value out of him before he goes.
I agree we shouldn't break ourselves to sign him back but that's doesn't mean I think his camp is being unreasonable though. He's been someone looking for an extension for awhile now and he's seeing players that are his peers sign these type of contracts. It would be unreasonable for him NOT to want to get a similar pay day. I don't think its true that he "really does not want to play for the Jets." Rather- he doesn't want to sign a contract under his market value and the Jets are justifiably or strapped enough that they are not wanting to pay him that
This is the definition of free agency. If you hit unrestricted free agency and you're a good player you're going to get paid like a great one. If you're an average player you're going to get paid like a good one. Free agency does not help the teams or ownership at all once a player has (finally) reached that goal. At that point the limited options on the market guarantee that everybody but the bottom of the barrel are going to get overpaid. To get to unrestricted free agency a player has to survive 4 years in the NFL, sometimes 6 like Mo has. When they get there they're going to shoot the moon. That's just the market in operation. The only way free agent prices come down is if more players are free agents each year. You'd need probably 50% of the good players hitting the market each year to keep the bidding wars from getting out of hand. That would force the average players to sign for average salaries, because they'd be waiting a long time for the good players to clear the market.
Mo's market value in 2013 was $10-12M. Unless you think the Jets did not offer him a deal in that range at that point then everything else has been about getting a huge precedent setting contract.
I doubt John Idzik offered him that or even listened to an offer like that. John Idzik the type of GM who would cut a decent player and sign 7 shitty players just to save a buck or 2. So yes, I agree with your statement there and that's one of the reasons why we are where we are
Instead of trading him to free up the $15.7M why not just sign him to a 5 year extension, turn $14M of that $15.7M into a signing bonus. That fees up $11.7M which could be used to sign Fitz with a little left over. Then just rework Brick to free up another $4M or so to sign the draft picks. See so much about trading Mo as if the 2nd round pick they may get is going to be even close to his caliber. And guessing that they would get someone with a lot of talent in the 4th that fell for some reason, is this fantasy land? How often have the Jets managed to get that special 4th round pick?
Because I don't think he's gonna sign with the Jets. I think he wants too much money and too much guaranteed money. We have a new Scouting Dept. and a new GM. What previous Scouting Depts. and GMs did is irrelevant.
This is true, Wilkerson negotiations have been going on for some time now and nothing worked, but I thought when it came down to the wire it would somehow be resolved.
