Haven't seen this posted yet... In a strange twist, O'Connell returns September, 9, 2010 By Rich Cimini QB Kevin O'Connell, who was cut last week by the New York Jets, signed a two-year contract Wednesday night to return to the team, according to a radio station in San Diego. This is a strange one. After being released, it was revealed that O'Connell had a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder. That didn't sit well with O'Connell's agent, who felt the Jets should've given O'Connell an injury settlement instead of an outright release. Either the Jets didn't know about the injury or they tried to pull a fast one, releasing him injured. Now he's back, after being told that he hadn't development as they hoped? (That's what GM Mike Tannenbaum tells O'Connell when cutting him on an earlier "Hard Knocks.") Something is fishy here. Obviously, O'Connell will go on injured reserve, but who signs a player that can't play for the season? Maybe it's the Jets' way of paying the man for his troubles.
I guess Tanny got caught trying to pull a fast one and decided re-signing him would make the whole thing go away.
The fuck is this shit? Maybe O'Connell threatened to go to a division rival just to spill some secrets about the playbook.
I have had two rotator cuff surgeries and a torn labrum to go a long with one surgery. A torn labrum might not even cause pain like a torn cuff would. You might notice a loss of strength and stability in the shoulder, but unless he complained a lot and had a proper MRI with contrast the team wouldn't have known.
Here's my guess. Normally if a guy has a semi serious injury he either gets bought out for a couple of weeks (about the length of time it would take to get over the injury) or the player hides it so the player can resign. I bet KOC couldn't get a job elsewhere so they went back to the Jets to bitch about the lack of an injury settlement -- and there was enough of an injury that the Jets saw they had exposure to the league.
Honestly, I think they probably saw it as "Well, maybe the injury was there all along and that's why he couldn't compete. Personally I didn't want him back, but whatever. The only QB I ever want to see on the field for the NY Jets for the next decade (except in garbage time of a game we're blowing out the opponent) is Sanchez.
Seems pretty straight forward to me. They can hold onto him now without taking up a roster spot. Why not hold onto a QB you've been developing if it doesn't cost you the roster spot - especially when Clemens is likely gone next year.
They could have put KOC straight on the IR though if they were sure they wanted him. That's why the timing is weird here.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I thought they didn't find out about the injury until after they cut him?
How is it that they went the entire offseason without realizing that O'Connell was injured? Didn't O'Connell know this?
To me, it shows that O'Connell is a tough son of a bitch if he played through that. I have no problem with them bringing him back, especially with Ainge's problems. As of right now though, neither player is taking up a roster spot...so what's the big deal? We'll probably see a competition between O'Connell and Ainge next off-season.
Maybe when the Jets found out about the injury they understood why he was under-performing and wanted him back because they felt he may be an asset in the future. or maybe if they cut him first because it effected the trade they made for him.
I definitely don't, I'm just trying to figure out why the Jets made a weird series of moves with a player (cutting him, resigning him and immediately putting him on IR) rather than just put him on IR directly. This article seems to have the answer though; it says he did find out about the injury after being cut. http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2010/09/jets_lose_confidence_in_rookie.html
