The signing of Tomlinson was as much about sending a message to Leon Washington's AGENT as it was filling a need. The jets made Leon a very fair multi-year offer last year which Leon/agent turned down (greedy for more). After Leon got hurt, he of course lost considerable leverage in his attempt to get another multi-year deal. Although no one will ever admit it, I think the jets would have waited a little longer to monitor Leon's recovery before signing TJ's replacement had they not been a little bothered by Leon's agent last year. Tanny is sending a future message to players and their agents--turn down a good deal and it might not be available later--in fact you might not be here later. I would be the first to welcome Leon back to the jets. However, Leon is probably of the mindset "I think I deserve more money." Don't we all?
if tannenbaum is in the business of showing em who is boss like you are saying, and i really DO NOT think he is. then he is due for a rude awakening. thats bad juju with players, smart execs dont hold grudges and dont do kid shit if they want to be successful. i give mike t much more respect than what you are suggesting.
The signing of LT was a message to the vacant 2nd RB spot saying, "you're filled" It wasn't a message to his agent.
:grin: If anything LT's signing should alleviate some pressure on Leon to return as the 3rd down back right away.
I totally agree with this. Cant see how any message would get through to Leon or his agent. This is an agent and player that rolled the dice and up until now...lost. Not blaming them...they were in the driver seat..just not the case until Leon starts to put up good numbers again. Which might happen. Then both sides win and we do this all over again.
I think this is the message Tanny is sending to Leon and his agent: sorry dude, but it's a business....show me you're healthy on September 13th then get back to me. oh and mr. keels, eat a dick
Don't feel like reading through the replies, but... Tomlinson isn't replacing Jones; he's replacing the role Shonn Greene had last season. And as for Leon feeling inclined to more money, he said after his injury, and i'm paraphrasing, "unfortunately it didn't work out for me, so now i'm probably going to have to take less money. i'm okay with that."
Leon had a bad injury, and the Jets are making sure they have that 3rd down back. If they kept TJ and Green, and Leon was unable to go, then they would be lacking that 3rd down threat. So I believe it was a matter of making the backfield more versatile. I just hope LT has some mileage left. Cromartie can return kicks also, fulfilling another role that we lost with Leon. I would think Leon got the message when he broke his leg. No need to be signing guys now to prove a point.
Kind of. Hes actually creating a new piece to the puzzle. The Jets lacked a true receiver at of the backfield. Both Greene and Jones posed no threat at all from a receiver aspect. Leon does..but regardless of his progress, hes still a bit of a question mark. LT gives us a veteran back/receiver. Im not sure about this signing..kind of mixed emotions. Like the Favre signing..it screams of Hollywood but LT's role will be specialized and limited to certain extent. I hope the Jets have more info concerning him then what we saw the past couple years. I believe there is some truth to a real run blocking problem that the Chargers had. They just couldnt run the ball period.
i think his agent is the one who has been making this difficult. i met leon last august and spoke with him for about half an hour, and greedy was the last kind of vibe that I got from him. I asked him what he thought about Rex and how the team was going to do, and he seemed 100% genuine when he said how much everyone loves Rex and the way he is running things. I like to think that I can read people pretty well and I can usually pick up BS instantly, and he seemed really sincere. I hope he comes back. People seem to forget how much he has done for this team. We made it to the AFC Championship game last year with basically zero special team performance all year. I can only see us getting even better when Leon is returning kicks again not to mention the instant chemistry that he showed with Sanchez in the beginning of last season. thoughts?
Well, Brad Smith did pretty well filling in for Leon and Jerricho was reliable, but you're right- 2009 was probably the poorest special teams play I've seen in the Westhoff era. If nothing else, it'll be good to have Leon back to make coaches sweat during kick-offs. Not sure how that helps our coverage teams, though...
