I'm torn on Maye because he's a productive vet who is respected in the locker room but he's also right about at the age where guys decline at safety which makes a longer deal dubious for us.
This sucks but I also understand where Joe D is coming from if this is based on his age. Maye is 28 years old. If history repeats itself, which it often does, safeties tend to fall off the cliff at around 29 years old. Paying a 28 year old safety top dollar when there is so much youth he is building throughout the roster is a tough move. Just sucks because I really like Maye and his production.
yeah but this is his 4th year right? So do you pay based upon his age or football “years” it’s not like he came out at an early age. It’s a risk to potentially have Maye leave the team but the Jets don’t seem to be willing to pay a ton for an older player, even if he’s young in NFL terms.
Yes but age is playing a big factor, in my opinion, irrelevant of football years. I also think Joe Douglas sees safety as a lower priority and does not want to tie big money into the position, which is hard to argue with. While paying Maye does set a precedent moving forward with other players, it also ties a lot of money in a position that has very little impact when compared to other positions on a young team looking to rebuild a roster. Again, it sucks if this does not play out because I really like Maye, but from a business perspective, it makes sense to not pay him what he is requesting.
Yep. Age and career expectancy is the issue. You really don't want to sign a vet to a long-term deal in which a fair amount of guaranteed money is in the post-30 years. Giving that vet a lot of money up front is almost the same as guaranteeing them money later in the deal. There really aren't a lot of workarounds that make sense for the Jets here. Probably the best option would be a 4 year deal that gave either party a hard out after the second year. Take the tag value this year and set it as the fully guaranteed 2021 and 2022 salaries with the provision that if both parties agree the same salary could roll over in 2023 and 2024. Either party doesn't want that deal and the contract is null and void as of the first day of the league year in 2023. If that scenario was in play the Jets get Maye for two years at $21.224M. The option is there for both parties to agree to make it a 3 or 4 year deal for $31.836M or $42.448M respectively. If both parties agree the 2023 year becomes fully guaranteed on the 1st day of that league year. Same for 2024. If Maye continues to play well the options are probably good for the Jets and him because he is not going to find more than a 3 or 4 year deal as a 30 year old free agent and the last two years in the deal will be fake to boost the numbers. He's not going to find a big deal as a 29 year old free agent next year either. So for him the best option is to keep playing lights out in 2021 and 2022 and effectively land a 4 year $42.448M deal in the process as the Jets pick up 2023 and 2024 respectively, this assuming he is still playing at a high level in 2023. And that's what this is all about really. If he's not playing at a high enough level to make the Jets want to rollover the deal in 2023 and 2024, well the Jets dodged a bullet by not signing him to a 4 year deal with a lot of guaranteed money. I would make it a provision of the contract that the salary number is not negotiable by either side after it is signed. No pressuring Maye to take a lower salary in the option years and no holdouts by him over the course of the contract.
JD seems to only want to spend big money on players who play premium positions but he also seems to realize the importance of resigning key players who are team leaders, have worked hard and are respected. Both views are in conflict. If the above article is correct it appears that his first philosophy won out and that he is only willing to invest big money in a safety if he is getting a below market deal.
"Negotiations went south weeks before the tag deadline when the #Jets offered Maye a deal that had an APY about 20% below even the tag amount for 2021. Maye turned down NYJ's offer & had significantly more in APY and guarantees from multiple teams heading into FA." If this tweet is true we offered him a lowball extension that he turned down because he was getting significantly better long term offers from several other teams. So we used the FT on him this season, which may kill the big offers he gets next season at age 29. To get one more season from Maye we are screwing him out of the chance to get a quality long term contract. On the heels of trapping Crowder into a 5 million paycut JD is showing that he is all business and has no loyalty to players that have been productive and loyal to us.
Maye played 4 straight years at Florida then entered the draft in 2016. So why was he 24 entering the NFL, when he should have been 21, or 22 at the latest? Did it take him a couple of extra years to graduate high school? Was he injured? Did he redshirt for a year or two at Florida before playing?
Excellent point, Noam! I hate that there's a cap and tough decisions like this have to be made. Maye has been a solid player for the Jets and a great citizen, but not that great a player. IMO he doesn't deserve big money, even if he is a liked and respected player, and a leader. It's a fine line to walk however for a GM. If the team is winning, then GMs can get by with being cheap, but not so much when they have been bad. You don't want to lose leadership and alienate players, but you don't want to overpay and set a precedent, either. Also, it can be hard for players and fans to remember that contracts are for future play and services, not a reward for past play, although some consideration must be given to that at times when a player has well out-played his contract. I'm not sure that is the case with Maye, however.
Safeties can have a bit more longevity than corners because it's more of an angles game than it is pure speed. I'd imagine the hang up is over the years as much as it is the APY as the tweets indicated though. Three years is the right deal for the Jets, four is the right deal for him. The other problem for Maye is that safety is relatively replaceable. I'd still pay him though. He's great at negating big plays and I don't think his game will suffer too much with age. The Jets should've extended him instantly when they traded Adams. An oversight by JD IMO but probably not that big of a mistake.
I'd say 3 years 31 million - with 22 million guaranteed. I'm sure he'd go for that. I doubt he is requiring 4 years. He likely just wants some long term security. As it stands, if he gets injured this season his career may be over.
If that deal were accepted by his side I'd think he would've been signed by now. He wants to be paid like the top 5 safety he was last year even if the year is an outlier.
Yessir. I'd guess he's in the 4 years for $50 million range and the Jets are closer to 3 for $30 million and change give or take a couple million each ways.
The other real option is that JD views Maye as a good but not great player and is not willing to pay him as though he is a Pro Bowl caliber player. That would explain the numbers in the deal not averaging the franchise tag this season. Maye is a good player, one of the top 5 on the Jets right now. But 4 years into the career he has not been to a Pro Bowl. Given that the best player on a team usually goes that tell us that the NFL community does not view Maye as a star player, just a good one. For continuity I would make him an offer like the one I proposed above however it is very possible that Maye views this (or next season's free agent window) as his only shot to sign a really rich deal and so he might not even accept a 2 year conditional deal at realistic top dollar. Without a Pro Bowl appearance this year he is going to get like a 4 year $40M deal next year tops with maybe $10-15M guaranteed and total bullshit numbers in the back 2 years to get the overall value to $40M. He might well get a lot less than that. The NFL is an extremely hostile market for 29 and 30 year old players who are not stars. Like 2 or 3 years and out if an injury doesn't settle things first. If I was Maye I would be looking for a solid guarantee over the next couple of years and a real prospect of the contract rolling over in 2023 and 2024. He's not a star and he could easily get hurt at any time and become an NFL non-entity.
