http://www.newyorkjets.com/news/article-7/Maccagnan-No-3-Is-a-Very-Good-Position-to-Be-In/571582f4-129e-434b-b1e6-211bb920cae7 Maccagnan: No. 3 Is a Very Good Position to Be In After discussing a possible trade-up scenario throughout the offseason, Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan pulled off an aggressive move on March 17. While Maccagnan values draft capital, he felt confident in the pool of players who will be available to him at No. 3 overall and was able to put a package together in order to acquire the Colts’ first-round pick. A Good Spot “We really felt good about the third spot in terms of the compensation for it,” he said of the package that included the No. 6 overall pick, a pair of second-rounders this year and an additional second-round pick in 2019. “And I think you just do your due diligence when you try to go up higher. You spend a lot of time looking at previous draft compensations or movements or stuff like that. Again, for us going forward, the idea of keeping our one was an important thing for us. The twos this year and the two next year, it’s a price, but we felt good about the one going forward.” Not Totally Locked Acknowledging that he had discussions with Cleveland about the top overall selection prior to the swap with Indianapolis, Maccagnan left the door open for further movement. But it’s clear the Jets like where they stand heading into April’s draft. “Even at three, it’s not as if we’re totally locked in there too,” he said. “You never know how the draft unfolds. Not to read into the Jets are looking to move again, but three is a very good position to be in we felt.” Quick Transition Echoing CEO’s Christopher Johnson’s sentiments, the Jets were initially disappointed when it became clear Kirk Cousins intended to sign with the Minnesota Vikings. “We did quite a bit of work on Kirk, we liked him quite a bit,” Maccagnan said. “Obviously like anybody, you’re a little disappointed when you don’t land a player that you put much effort into trying to acquire. But honestly, it was all handled very well we thought from dealing with the agent and the player.” The Jets quickly moved on from Cousins, re-signing Josh McCown, adding Teddy Bridgewater and landing the third pick in the draft that could ultimately be used on a quarterback. “In pro free agency, you almost don’t have time to be upset because you have to pivot, shift and go work on other players,” he said. A Good Problem Bridgewater, a former first-round pick who has been limited to a handful of snaps the past two seasons after suffering a devastating knee injury, is looking for a fresh start. The Jets were intrigued about the possibility of him getting back to the ascending player he was in 2015. “From a character and work-ethic standpoint, he’s a guy we’d like to take a bet on and see what he can do,” Maccagnan said. “If he can regain his previous form, it will be a very good problem to have —having a lot of young talented quarterbacks on the roster.” On Deck: Josh Allen After watching Sam Darnold’s pro day and conducting private workouts with both Josh Rosen and Baker Mayfield, the Jets will get some up close and personal time with Wyoming’s Josh Allen next week. “We still have homework to do on these guys in terms of our exposure to them. We have a private workout with Josh Allen still coming up, so if you guys want to grab your phones — it’s going to be probably in the next week,” the Jets GM told reporters. “We’re going to bring these guys in for visits like everybody does in the NFL. No big shocker. I feel pretty good about the guys I have in place, the people we have in place to be a part of this evaluation process. I feel really good about who we can potentially get.” Cap Cushion Although the Green & White have been busy in free agency with a lot of signings, that won’t prevent them from heading into the 2019 offseason with a lot of financial flexibility as well. “Right now, assuming we were going to spend our full allotment, I think we’re at like 90-plus million in cap space for next year, assuming the cap is flat,” Maccagnan said. “If I remember correctly, I was talking with Jackie [Davidson] the other day, we’re close to 100 million, which puts us to No. 1 in the NFL.” Suh Summation With a timetable in place, the Jets made an offer to five-time Pro Bowler Ndamukong Suh. When the clock struck midnight, the offer disappeared. “We extended an offer,” Maccagnan said. “We had a deadline on that offer and when that deadline passed, myself and Christopher and Todd was always informed about this the whole time, we made the determination if we wanted to stay in the race for him or if we wanted to pull out. And we decided to pull out.”
I feel like every quote I read I try to spin it as the Jets not being interested in Allen... But why would he straight up tell reporters that he has a workout scheduled for Allen and to “grab their phones” if he was hoping to get him?
Not that it matters, but I've always found it interesting how many filler words Mac uses when he speaks. Sentences like, "We really felt good about the third spot in terms of the compensation for it" and "I feel really good about who we can potentially get." Though they aren't filler words like "like" and "um," more like filler adverbs and phrases.
A big part of a GM's job is to be able to say nothing that will tip his hand and let other teams take advantage. If a GM actually tells you something factual it's probably because it's already widely known.
Man I’m pissed... we are 100% passing on Allen or he’s going #2 and they know it..... fuck I’m dissapointed Smoke screen of the century
I could be wrong because I haven’t seen video, so this is out of context, but the reporters use their phones to record audio sound bytes now. Think Mac is alluding to some type of media event in FP with the QBs coming here. Edit: Actually, I think they do actually let the media interview the prospects to see how they perform with them.
Exactly. This is prime time for smoke screens. Anything you hear from the media between now and the draft should be taken with a grain of salt. He is doing his due diligence by scheduling workouts with all 4 QBs. If he were to just come out and say, "We're targeting Rosen", then it's motivation for any team that wants him to trade to the #2 and steal our guy. Better to keep things quiet or put out false "feeler" news to gauge reactions from teams.
I understood it to mean that since he is talking to reporters that he expects them to write articles about it- they will use their phones for twitter, instagram, to record audio and take photos even. At the end of the day I think the viable strategy isn't denying interest in any one the 4 QBs, but putting up a smokescreen would be showing interest in all 4 so no one would know which ones are our top 3. Even that is a stretch since everyone would put Darnold in the top 3, we just want to sow doubts so that no one would know who the other two are.
I think he is suggesting that all of the reporters would want to immediately post on Twitter that the Jets were bringing Allen in next week for a workout. So he's saying "Grab your phones so you can Tweet this ..."
That sounds right to me. And maybe I missed something, but as far as I can tell everything he said about the draft was completely devoid of content, so I can't understand why anyone would be either happy or unhappy about anything (I'm not complaining about that, just observing that he said nothing informative about anything).
All he said was that the Jets had a workout scheduled for Allen. He told reporters to grab their phones because the workout was probably during the next week. He said nothing about "hoping to get him."
