#1) No big money contracts! He did try to give Hightower big dollars (which would have been a mistake IMO), but even with that deal he wasn't going to give any guaranteed money after 2018. #2) Re-Signed/Tendered all of our young guys Nothing wrong with investing in players that have developed behind the scenes in your program for a few seasons. Guys like Wesley Johnson are going to receive significant playing time next year on a one year prove it deal. Sometimes you can really discover talent with this approach (see AJ Bouye) #3 Dumped Veterans who would stunt the growth of young guys What is the point of having Nick Mangold on the team this year? I'd rather see if Wesley Johnson could do the job. What is the point of having Brandon Marshall on the team this year? Let's see if Quincy Enunwa can be a #1 WR in this league. What is the point of having Darrelle Revis? Well... that was a no brainer. Hopefully Decker is released soon as well. In fact the only guy I'd like to keep around is Harris, and just for his leadership traits. #4 Beachum/Claiborne Two low risk signings for young players with upside. Beachum is locked in for two years and although if Claiborne is only on a 1 year prove-it deal if he plays well and cashes out next offseason the Jets will be set up with a nice comp pick. #5 Cap flexibility for next year The Jets could have some free agents to lock up next year, and its nice to know that they will have the cap space to do so. In fact I don't believe the Jets have any big money on the books in 2019 ( The year we can cut Wilkerson). So there it is Jets fans......2019 we can make some noise if we can have a few good drafts over the next couple of years and find that elusive franchise QB.
You are going to get annihilated for this post but nothing you said is wrong. Macc has played this very well. Unfortunately this is a result of him playing it not that well when he first got here. He made a huge splash and tried to "win now" with a team that clearly didn't have the key pieces to do so. I very much liked Marshall, I liked the nostalgia of Revis (not his contract) and HATED the Cro signing. Those were all moves that gave the franchise a clear direction to go in. It's not a direction we were prepared to go in though. So, we pissed away two years of guys like Mangold, Brick, Decker, Powell, etc. for nothing and here we are at the doorsteps of a complete rebuild. I like the way it's been handled, but it's also a little damning.
So far so good. Also, reports coming in that the Jets would like to bring McCown in. On the surface, this looks more like a desperate attempt to salvage whatever free agent QB they can hope put on their roster for the 2017 season. But looking at it from another angle, it's more of an indication that a) they are placing more focus on the 2 young QB's to allow for an opportunity to show what they can do for the upcoming season with Josh as their mentor and b) should this experiment flop big time, position themselves for the 2018 draft to get the QB they desperately are searching for. By not over paying for one like Glenon or Cutler, this tells me they would rather use the eggs in their basket and see what unfolds. Smart move.
Pointless. We aren't going to know if McCagnan deserves an A or an F until at least the first week of October. So what if he's gotten rid of players, that's easy. Now he has to find good ones to ADD to the roster. Ron
Ah another NYJ dreamer. Just so U know I have been saying the same thing since Jan 12, 1969 & I am still waiting
To me, it seems that you usually post provocative, off the wall stuff and I usually state my disagreement with a quote from a Tull song. But this post is not off the wall. I think you are right on target. I fully expect a losing season this year, and I say bring it on. Embrace 2-14. Get the top pick. But I think we can make some noise as early as 2018, depending upon this year's draft. I'd like to think the plan is to combine the top pick in 2018 (Sam D'Arnold?) with about $100m in cap space for 2018 to entice a real big name coach (Sean Payton?) to come here.
There are a lot of great story lines going into this horrific season to keep us plenty entertained; How will the QB situation be handled Will we see any improvement from Bowles Will we see marked improvment from last years picks like Lee What will our new offense look like How will our draft picks perform Will Hack ever see the field All these questions and more are enough to promote endless debate heading into what is going to be a very loooooong season.
all the o.p. said is true except he does not get an A for it. if i had to give him a grade it would be a solid C+. he gets points for swallowing his checkbook when f.a. period began and not being tempted to try for the quick fix.
I won't give it a grade and no one can see the future but I do believe he is making sound moves in FA so far. I can't think of anything that could have been done alternatively that would have been more efficient. Therefore I will say that he is doing a fine job thus far.
I'll give him an A for biting the bullet and accept that we are in a full blown rebuild mode and act accordingly.. As such we rid of the overpaid vets, we start building with youth and thru the draft, we give our QBs a shot to prove it, and we only target hi value, lower risk free agents to fill some immediate holes. We will attempt to remain competitive but we will not compromise the future to get a couple of more wins. Rebuilding a team properly, creating a competitive, solid foundation, not tanking for a pipe dream QB. How he ultimate rates will be determined by the next 2 years of the draft. But the start looks promising. What Todd does with it, well that is another story.
In my opinion this rebuild started now in year 3 and should have started in year 1. To give him anything above a C at this point is insane , to me its more like an incomplete. I want to see what the rest of FA brings and this years draft before he salvages any grades . I am still a non believer its time to put up or shut ! You cant just keep throwing away 2nd and or 3rd round picks and hope the team gets better . 2nd round picks can not be experiments they must be guys that make your squad and contribute , not sit on the bench . Its time to show me something or you can show the entire bunch of them the door at years end !
Overall, I agree with this post. It's not sexy, but I think that Mac has made some good moves this offseason. Of course, we don't know for certain all the facts. The media has reported that the Jets were interested in and after several FAs, but most or even all of that could be mere speculation. We know that Mehta and others like to make stuff up, throw it at the wall and see what happens. We know that agents release rumors to increase interest and the value of their players, and that teams release rumors to keep other teams in the dark about their real plans. 1) With regards to Hightower, I don't think the Jets really tried to sign him. They talked to his agents, and brought him in for a visit. They were just kicking the tires so to speak on a good young player that would hurt their chief rival if they were to sign him away or force them to have to pay more for them. The Jets had a solid offer on the table prior to Hightower's visit, but according to reports, as soon as Hightower took his physical, the Jets decided that they were no longer interested. They didn't up their offer, and in fact may have pulled it. I think bringing him in was due diligence, but I'm glad things didn't work out. I never really thought he had any serious interest in coming to the Jets, but was rather just using them to get more money from the Patriots. I would have liked taking a player away from the Patriots, but I saw no point in paying big money to a player who would be at the end of his career just when the Jets are supposedly going to be truly competitive in 2019 or perhaps even 2018 (I think that's the plan, anyway.). I do think that Mac believes in building the team through the draft. So I'm glad he wasn't very aggressive and gave ridiculous money to Bouye, Jefferson, or any of the QBs. 2) Mac didn't tender or re-sign all of the young players the Jets had whose contracts expired, just the ones he wanted to keep. AFAIK, Antonio Allen, Brandon Bostick, Mike Catapano and Geno Smith were not re-signed. 3) IMO they didn't just dump guys who stood in the way or would stunt the growth of young players. They also got rid of older, expensive players who were woefully underperforming their contracts. 4) I agree and like these moves. 5) Well, it depends upon what you consider "big" money, but the Jets have Mo on the cap for $18.5 million (would save $12.5 million on the cap if they cut him, but would have $6 million in dead money), Kelvin Beachum for $9.5 million (would save $8 million on the cap if they cut him and would have a $1.5 million dead money hit), and Brian Winters at $6.5 million (but they could cut Winters at that point and save all $6.5 million with no dead money on the cap). Your main point was that the Jets would be in great cap shape, and that is true, at least at this point. That said, they have a long list of FAs in 2018 and 2019. At this point, they only have 12 players under contract for 2019, so it will take a LOT of cap space to fill out that roster. Thankfully, alot of money should be clearing off the cap over the next 2 seasons. Hopefully, Richardson will be traded away, so he won't be needing a big contract. Decker, Harris, Gilchrist, Skrine, Forte, and Steve McLendon will almost certainly be gone by 2019 as well, so no big money there. James Carpenter and Calvin Pryor may be gone by 2019 as well. The most prominent Jets FAs in 2018 are Quincy Enunwa, Wesley Johnson, Marcus Williams, ASJ, Calvin Pryor, Brent Qvale and Dakota Dozier. Hopefully, the last two will have been replaced with better players by then. Johnson, Williams and Pryor could be gone by then as well. Of that group, Enunwa and Pryor are the only two who are likely to get bigger contracts unless Johnson proves to be a revelation at center, and Pryor will have to have a big bounce back year in 2017. In 2019 in addition to James Carpenter, Steve McLendon, Decker, Skrine, Gilchrist, and Forte, the Jets FAs are Leonard Williams, Bilal Powell, Lorenzo Mauldin, Bryce Petty, Robby Anderson, Devin Smith, Jalin Marshall and a slew of other young players. We know that Williams will get a big contract. If Robby Anderson continues to develop, he should get a pretty good-sized contract. Powell will probably be gone by then. Mauldin, Smith, Petty and Marshall could be gone as well, so we could be seeing a radically different Jets team by 2019.
