I was in Kendall's corner last year when he asked for his "promised" money. Many posters here sided with the Jets and Tanenbaum and cried tears of joy when he was traded. The mere fact that it left a gaping hole in our OL was a minor detail that turned out to be a MAJOR detail that was a big reason for us going 4-12.I wanted to give the Jets front office the benefit of the doubt and move on but now the Baker situation is suddenly a 5 alarm blaze that needs attention immediately not 6 weeks fron now when camp starts. Whatever the front office is doing they're creating a huge tidal wave of resentment twoards the Jets and namely Tanenbaum. Are the Players agents lying about supposed promises being made? I don't know but if this isn't the case Woody needs to step in here and straighten out Tanny now before things get real hot. The Jet front office operates as if we've been a playoff team 10 years and running. That's not the case we need guys of Bakers ilk who play tough, hurt and hard every down. I believe the Baker situation is now past fixing and he needs to go now not next week but now before he causes more unrest within the team. That still leaves Tanenbaum and his running of the team he needs to be watched before more disgruntled players come forward with their gripes and ruin the 2008 season before we play a game.
The Jets had no replacement for Pete Kendall last year. The Jets have two capable tight ends in Bubba Franks and Dustin Keller this year to replace Chris Baker if they trade him. Big difference. It's complete bullshit that these players can't honor the original contracts they signed. If they want more money, tough shit. The Jets didn't borrow any money from Baker, but rather just moved most of his money from 08 to 07. They don't owe him shit.
The Jets front office promised nothing other than to revisit the situation this season. They revisited it, and decided his current salary sounds good to them. End of story.
I'm just going to say that most of us thought losing Pete Kendall was going to be no big deal because we trusted in Mangini and Tannenbaum to find an effective replacement. We were wrong and we should have been more worried about the Kendall situation than we were. Now most of us seem to be not worried about losing Baker, this despite the fact that Franks wasn't particularly impactful with one of the greatest QB's of our time throwing to him and Keller appears to be a big wide receiver more than anything else. I'm worried about losing Chris Baker. I spent a lot of time last year watching Kellen Clemens in the backfield and I saw how often Baker, lining up outside a tackle and pass-blocking, was the only thing standing between Clemens and a hard sack. I can't help it that that's how the Jets used him, because it is. I find it fairly amazing that he got 40 catches anyway, depite being held in to block on the majority of obvious passing situations, and I highly doubt that any Jet's TE in 2008 not named Chris Baker is going to approach that number of receptions. Hopefully the pass-blocking will be much better this year with Faneca at LG and Woody at RT so the absence of Baker will not be felt in the backfield the way it would have last year. Lately the Jet's moves look good on paper and then blow chunks on the field. We don't need more of that.
Baker fired his agent before this season and hired the same agent that represents Kendall. So who is the problem, the agent or the team??????? Who's strategy is this, Tannenbaum's or Feinsod(the agent). Feinsod seems to have perfected the method for getting his unhappy "underpaid" clients away from the Jets. Come to camp, hold court with the press, make a stink, criticize management, etc. I say the Jets just ignore him. No raise, no trade. It's time the Jets put an end to this crap. Baker has no leverage - zero. Meanwhile, the Jets took care of the players they needed to take care of - Rhodes, Coles, etc. Do you really think those players are unhappy or are ready to jump ship with Baker????? Give me a break.
I think Keller will be a good player, but it might not happen here in 2008. Franks is not good anymore, not as a pass receiver at least. His value these days is as a blocker. He had several key drops and penalties the past few seasons. In other words, I also am worried about the Baker situation.
Let's renegotiate the whole team's contracts after last year's stellar season. Baker got his money up front. Too bad his "salary" is now less than Franks' and will be less than Keller's. Baker could start for a handful of other teams, and with the Jets upgrades this year could be a back up on the Jets. Does that merit a new contract with a raise. Baker is a 35-40 catch 300 yard tight end. That is pedestrian. Let him cry.
One thing that I really find interesting about Keller is that the way he is defensed may be the biggest factor in whether or not he succeeds at a high level in the NFL. People talk about Chris Baker's lack of skill at getting separation, which I can argue both ways given his role, but it's clear that he is being handled the old-fashioned way by defenses when he comes off of the line of scrimmage: he gets bumped by a linebacker and then released to the strong safety to cover. Occasionally a linebacker goes down the field with him but he mainly is covered by the strong safety. I can see Keller giving this kind of defensive coverage all kinds of trouble, like Dallas Clark does in Indy, because he'll split 3 to 5 yards wide and come out of the slot but on the line of scrimmage instead of a couple of yards behind it. That'll make it very hard for a linebacker to effectively jam him and still remain in the play. Obviously very few linebackers are going to be able to run with him up the field for more than 7 to 10 yards unless they knock him off his feet at the snap. I'm thinking that opposing defenses are going to have to plan to get either the strong safety or a nickelback on Keller fairly quickly if they want to contain him. This is what opposing defenses have been doing with Jeremy Shockey very effectively and it's why his numbers have declined somewhat since his rookie year when teams were defensing him in a more standard way. My gut tells me that if he is successful Keller will be used much more like a wide receiver than a tightend and that the Jets would be much better off with him lining up opposite Chris Baker than on the field himself.
Your argument would be more effective if you said 400 yard not 300 yard. Downplaying Baker's accomplishments to try to prove your point hurts your argument more than it hurts people's assessment of Baker.
I will fight to the death that the Jets did the right thing w/ Pete Kendall. An injury prone 34 year old average interior lineman is not worth the pay increase he was asking for...nor the headache he was causing within the organization. I wish people would comprehend that we were likely looking at 2 more wins last season at the MOST w/ Pete Kendall. The only mistake they made was not trading him sooner.
Your argument would be more effective if you looked at Baker's entire career and not one year. Baker has played 6 years for the Jets and last year was the only year he exceeded 400 yards. In fact, he has only exceeded 300 yards twice - in 2006 and 2007. If you average those two years he is a 35 catch, 350 yard tight end with 3 or 4 TDs. And that is his "high water mark." Hardly raise material. If you look at Baker's entire career, his average season is 20 catches for 200 yards and 2 TDs. Moreover, his blocking is merely average at best. Really, what has he done to merit more money???? Should the Jets give a raise and new contract to every player that had a decent season last year? Because that is how I would categorize Baker's season - decent. For example, Barton's season was also decent - should the Jets give him a raise? How about those Jets that had very good seasons? Should we give them huge raises? Do Mangold and Nugent deserve new contracts? Should Harris' contract be re-done and should we pay him like he was a first round pick because he played like one? And does it work the other way? When is Thomas going to give the Jets back the money he has been overpaid after he laid an egg last year. Or Ellis - he was paid like a premier DE at the end of 2004 and he has barely been average since. Is he going to return his $15 million bonus and his bloated salary for his 30 tackles and 2 sacks a year? Baker is paid farily for what he is - a decent tight end. There are 20+ NFL tight ends that are better. Baker should shut up and play.
Here's your Vinegar and Water sir...Might I say that long white hose is dashing.... This team is not so bad as to need to overpay twice for mediocre players. I love Baker, but he got 6.6/4 , but he is complaining because this is a low base salary year. Him being a jerk off about the money is bad enough. But the people being jerk offs too stupid to understand salary proration is worse.
At least I'm not the only one at the end of my rope on this issue. It can't be any plainer, and some just refuse to see the facts. More likely, they are just too lazy to do the research.
I also don't like this stuff about not honoring contracts. I especially don't like it when players want their contracts redone after dismal 4-12 type seasons. The Jets sucked with Baker having his best season. They can suck without him, too. That said, I go back to what I wrote earlier. I think that right now he is the team's best tight end, so this situation is a concern. If the Jets think Keller is going to have an excellent rookie season, they should trade Baker sometime in the summer. Tight ends have been known to be very impactful as rookies. Junior Miller ('80 Falcons), Mark Bavaro ('85 Giants), Robert Awalt ('87 Cardinals), Charle Young ('73 Eagles), Keith Jackson ('88 Eagles), Mike Ditka ('61 Bears), John Mackey ('63 Colts), Raymond Chester ('70 Raiders), and Charlie Sanders ('68 Lions) all had superb rookie seasons.
I think his expendability hinges on Keller's ability to block. He seems like a strong dude. Maybe Callahan's magic will be enough to bring him to the next level. Another plus, blocking from the TE position may not be as critical with our revamped O-line.
Thats as good of an answer there is. No team promises you that if we go 4-12, we'll give you a few million raise next yr. The only thing a FO promises is, if you play good AND help the team, we'll work your contract accordingly. Well, in Bakers case, he's an avg. TE and getting paid an avg TEs salary. He performed barely avg. last yr so no need to give him a new contract. Basically, Baker promised he'll go by his contract. Every player does that when they sign the contract. He does'nt seem to be honoring it so much and is putting the blame on the Jets FO. Screw you you son of a motherless goat...! .....Just honor the f*cking contract you signed you f*ckhead.....
I agree with WSW when he says we don't owe him anything. We need to trade him and trade him quick although like the Pete Kendell situation i'm slightly worried, if we really look at the replacements we have a injury prone vet in Franks and a inexperienced rookie in Keller. I personally believe that as long as Franks stays healthy we will be fine as i can see Keller being impressive. Then again i had hoped this would of been sorted out as soon as it came up and we would be going into the season strong at TE. Thats not going to happen so all we can do is trade him.
