The team announced they had signed safety Doug Middleton and offensive linemen Ben Braden to their one-year deals. Both were exclusive-rights free agents, which means they couldn’t negotiate with other teams. Middleton has ended up on injured reserve twice for torn pectoral muscles. He’s played in 11 games, and scored a heads-up touchdown by recovering a kickoff in the end zone against the Bills in 2016. Braden has spent the last two years on the practice squad.
I always liked Middleton but he seems to be injury prone. Good enough to give him one more chance. Braden I don't know much about. Good signing Middleton/ ?-Braden. Looks like the Jets are pretty much wrapping up FA's and are going to count heavily on the draft for C & CB & ER/OLB. I think to fill all these needs we would have to trade back & recoup some picks.
As always, expect a bunch of addiitions , camp cuts and post waiver claims and the ensuing bitch fest that comes with every camp body brought in along with a sprinkle of " I really liked him at Humboldt State...
Gase said he liked to bring 15 OL guys in to TC. We had 8 at the time. He did not comment on the talent level required. Maybe he thinks they can sort out a line out of numbers?
That seems to be MAC's M.O. Trying to find cast-offs with High ceilings. It's annoying after a point where you are batting .079 on signings like this who end up playing and looking like cast-offs ...
Middleton was an UDFA that Mac brought on after the draft a few years back....same year that brought on Robbie Anderson, Jalin Marshall, and Lawrence Thomas as UDFA's I believe. He's been pretty good at finding value there. Pretty sure Braden was a UDFA as well, although hasn't seen nearly the playing time Middleton has.
