Mo showed up to the Jets locker room today. http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york-je...or-in-the-jets-locker-room-muhammad-wilkerson
I don't see how this increases his leverage because he's not gauging any interest from other teams cause the tag isn't signed. He showed up to OTAs yesterday, perhaps he actually wants to be here?
the coaching staff don't want him, he's too much on the cap, we have other defensive lineman, get him out of here, he aint worth jj watt money so fuck em , get him out of here , bye bye good riddance , clear the cap space so we can sign fitz, don't let the door hit u in the ass on the way out, laterrrrrrrrr
With the draft already finished and free agency past, it'd be a horrible move for 2016 to get rid of Wilkerson. He's factored in to the cap already, might as well suck a career year out of him.
they're trying to get rid of him, why do u think they signed 2 defensive lineman and have deon simon from last years draft, they don't want him here, cuz they lost snacks and they plan on getting rid of Mo
the coaching staff don't want him so they let him attend OTAs and didn't trade him just to get him off the roster.
lol funny, but u guys need to wake up , bowles even said the other day that they cant keep everybody after 4 or 5 years (1st contract) , so he's a goner , and he will be gone by the middle of july if not by training camp
The record-setting part is true but the context is what matters. Lots of mediocre QB's had career years last year. The rules changes threw everything up in the air and some guys were particularly quick to adapt before the pieces all came down again. Treating the 31 TD's that Fitzpatrick threw, with a completion percentage under 60% and only 6.95 YPA, like it was something special is a mistake that I am glad the Jets are not making this off-season.
That doesn't apply to just Wilkerson. That also applied to Snacks and going forward Sheldon too. I don't think a trade is happening this season. I'll keep all 3 of those D-lineman until I find a QB worth paying. If Hack / Petty become that guy, I'm not worried for a while. Keep your best talent.
If Mo has a great season this year and isn't hurt at the end of it the Jets may decide to spend a lot of money on him. I don't think they'll do that if Richardson and Williams are looking good, but they might.
If all 3 of those guys are looking good, then hopefully the Jets are making some major noise. We saw how Brady looked that last Patriots meeting. Now, the Jets have Jordan Jenkins setting the edge and Richardson will do what he does best. It's worth having Mo as a Jet this season to see what happens. I'm over Fitz, we saw the best he had to offer. If Geno can get better in the pocket and can get the ball to Matt Forte and Powell in the passing game, we can be OK on offense. I have all the confidence he can get the ball to Marshall and Decker. Just need to really simplify the game for him.
It's worth having Mo as a Jet because nobody was interested in a tag-and-trade and he's a very good player, albeit at a bigger cap number than he's worth for the season. His real number where he'd be of value to the Jets is probably like $10-$11M given the talent on hand. The Jets should maybe get creative and offer him a deal that looks like this: 5 yrs/57 million with $17M up front this year, a $7M base salary and $10M bonus that is a guaranteed payment no matter how many years the deal ultimately becomes. Structure the deal with the last 4 years at $10M a year with 2017 guaranteed and the Jets guaranteeing any additional years on the 3rd day of the league year if Mo is still on the roster. Now comes the creative part: give Mo a 6 week opt out when free agency starts next year where he can negotiate with anybody and choose to void his deal with the Jets if he gets a deal he likes. In that case $8M of pro-rated money hits the Jets cap right away but then they are done with the cap issue. This year the Jets get $6M in cap space back immediately and there's always the chance that they'll keep Mo long-term if he doesn't get the deal he wants in free agency next year. The problem for Mo and the Jets both is that Mo wants to hit the jackpot on this contract. He's been primed to do that by the Jets contract negotiations with other key players over the years. This would give Mo more than the franchise tag this year and it would give the Jets some 2016 cap relief when they really need it in return for a hit next year. It would preserve the chance that Mo will be a Jet next season and moving forward without breaking the Jets bank or cap. It would give both sides the chance to save some face in the deal. Mo would probably leave next year but not under the kind of scenario in which the Jets feel bad about the loss or Mo feels like he's sticking it to the guys preventing him from getting his big payday. The Jets could certainly negotiate with Mo during the 6 week period just like any other team next year. They could even have him shop his best deal and come back under that, although not overtly since nobody is going to bid in a match situation.
It's not about the coaching staff not wanting him, it's MM and upper management thinking he is demanding too much money. The coaches LOVE Wilkerson. He's a class act, locker room leader, and can play every position up front. He also stays out of trouble off the field and could have held out the last 2 seasons but didn't. He's the perfect guy to lock up long term. The coaching staff would do anything to keep him, unfortunately there is that business side to everything that the coaches have virtually no control over. If he is demanding too much, then yeah, he's as good as gone, but I still feel that the Jets will find a way to make it work.
He can talk to other teams and gauge interest now because he's has a non-exclusive franchise tender. He has increased his leverage because he can delay a trade to a team he doesn't want to go to and hope that the Jets do a trade (for potentially a lower value) to a team that he does want to go to and for whom he would sign the tender. For example, let's say Team A has told him that if the Jets trade his rights to them then they'll give him a contract for x years at y per year with z guaranteed and he likes that deal. Let's say the Jets have instead worked out a trade with Team B and Team B's not willing to give him the deal that Team A is willing to give him, so he far prefers Team A. By not signing the franchise tender, he can delay a trade to Team B and hope that either Team B gives up or that the Jets would be willing to do a trade for his rights to Team A (even though Team A's offer is not as good as Team B's offer) because he'd be willing to sign the tender to go to Team A. This ability to delay a deal gives him leverage. If he delays past July 15th, then the team that would get him after July 15th knows that they wouldn't be able to sign him to a long term deal without his hitting the free agent market next year (unless they franchise him also at $18+ million/year for next year). I expect that the Jets already have a deal worked out for him that will become effective once he signs the franchise tender. I think its also likely that they had a deal worked out before the draft, but that he refused to sign the tender to prevent the deal from going through.
