You are right that doesn't "need" to be cheap this year, but if he makes heavy long-term commitments to guys that are so-so fits just because they're the best ones available in free agency, it will be a lot harder to make heavy long-term commitments to our players that we know we want long-term. I think it would be a mistake to look at our cap space and say "Okay, what are the best available free agents we can spend this on?" I think the right attitude is to go "Okay, how can we use this to improve the team as much as possible?" That's going to be a mix of signing some significant but not overpriced free agents (i.e. Decker), re-signing some minor guys from your team (i.e. Pace, Cumberland), bringing in some minor guys from other teams (i.e. Brenno), and most importantly, re-signing your own key players. None of our critical players were up for contracts this year, so it makes sense to roll that money forward to next year when we will need to re-sign key players. It's also possible that we will re-sign Wilkerson instead of invoking his 5th year option (Idzik has to decide by early May.) We could have him for like $2m, then $5m next year- but after that he'd get maybe $14m/year on a 6 year deal, adding up to ~$90m. He might be willing to do an 8 year, $80m contract this season- factor in some combo of a roster and signing bonus, and instead of earning just $7m over these next two years, he would be getting over $20m for that period. In exchange though, he would give up $10m over the course of 8 years, and those last 6 years would be significantly lower than they would otherwise. The Jets would lock him up long-term, have a productive way to use their cap space, lower the overall amount they'd need to spend to keep him, make him happy, and smooth out the cap spending so that we would not have a bunch of +$14m/year cap hits. That's the kind of stuff you can do when you have cap flexibility, and I'd rather see some kind of move like that than a spending spree on free agents just because they're there. It's too early to know for sure what Idzik is going to do, but I think he's committed to not overpaying for talent and something like the above is not out of the question. I'd definitely say he is not holding back just for the sake of holding back.
http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/...hould_dominique_rodgers-cromartie_choose.html Fuck Charles Curtis.
I'm not saying I don't like him, I do, I just don't think Idzik would use the 18th pick to take him and I don't see us trading down. If either Ebron or Lee are there I believe he would take them first.
You're right and I think it was obvious to all involved and for that reason I will be surprised if he ends up with either..at least not at anything close to 9M a year. It's really pretty funny and if we didn't need a CB so bad it would be even funnier. He visits us and then goes to the giants. He leaks he is going back to the giants today for a physical and what does Idzik do? He leaves town and goes to see Teddy Bridgewater's workout which I'm sure pissed them off completely.
Brian Costello @BrianCoz 1m There it is RT @AdamSchefter: CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie reached agreement with the New York Giants on a five-year deal, per source.
How is it the Giants with almost zero cap room are getting every FA out there and us with $40 million of cap room are settling for Decker and scraps?
I didn't, nor am I advocating anything like the bolded phrase in the 1st paragraph. I'm also not advocating spending the money just because they have it. There is middle ground between making a "heavy long term commitment" and hardly signing anyone. Some of the players the Jets could have signed, would have required a longer term contract, like Asamoah, but his contract was anything but "heavy." Asamoah is a quality starter and is versatile in that he can supposedly play any position on the OL. Others wouldn't have necessarily required a long term commitment, and since Idzik is a cap guru, he should be able to work most contracts to protect the team in case a player doesn't pan out. We don't know for certain what DRC's contract demands are, but if they're anything like we've seen posted (speculated on) here and in the media, they really aren't out of line unless his passion and commitment to the game are lacking. Granted, teams don't let their best players leave, but as many FAs as there have been and as many holes as the Jets have, you nor anyone else can convince me at this point that there weren't players that Idzik could have signed that would have helped improve this team, if not significantly, and who probably could have been signed for reasonable contracts (both $s and length). Now in fairness, maybe it's just my long experience being a Jets fan and knowing that Idzik, while eminently more qualified for the GM position than Tanny could ever dream about, still wasn't the personnel guy I wanted as GM for the Jets that is causing some doubt to start creeping in. It also doesn't help that it was abundantly clear that Woody wasn't going to hire a GM that wouldn't keep Rex, and that Woody is such a clueless doofus when it comes to football. I'm willing to give Idzik the benefit of the doubt a little while longer, but imo some additional quality signings need to be made and soon. I'm totally in favor of building primarily through the draft, but imo that shouldn't mean that one only uses FA for depth or for cheap players coming off major injury. With the exception of Decker, so far Idzik has gone the "cheap" route. Last year he had little or no choice, but this year he does.
That's in your opinion. None of us have any idea of where NFL teams rank him at this point in time. He's a perfect fit for a WCO, so has more value to a WCO team than others. You may be right that the Jets don't get him, but it will be our loss if we don't. I'm not sure that I don't like him better than Lee, and I know I like him better than Evans.
