I think people forget how good Williamson is. I don’t see any reason to cut him at this point. The D was pretty good without Mosley and Williamson last year, looking forward to seeing how good they can be with both back in the lineup.
It has nothing to do with forgetting, and everything to do with wise use of cap space, getting more draft resources, developing young players while we're still rebuilding, and determining who can help us going forward. Williamson won't be on the team beyond this season.
Jets need good players, Williamson is a good player. If you told me we could get a valuable pick in a trade for him that would be a different story but I seriously doubt anyone is beating down the Jets door for an offball LB coming off a season long injury. There is absolutely no reason to cut Williamson at this point.
Wouldn't we get a comp pick for him if he walks and we don't go crazy in next years year agency? That alone is worth keeping a good versatile inside linebacker. Hewitt was ok. I thought Burgess was better. But either way, I'd rather keep all four of them and be able to play a true 4-3 at times and have an extremely smart versatile linebacking core with four two year system players.
Are we sure that Williamson will return 100% healthy? If we can be pretty certain of that, I agree he's worth keeping, but maybe he'd agree to re-negotiate his salary to make that outcome more likely?
I'm not sure. But most players recover from ACL injuries without many poor effects. I don't think it hurts him too much as a player. It's a sticking point to kill his value in a trade though. And I do think that linebackers may have a tougher time recovering from it surprisingly. Because of the high probability of having your leg caught under someone in a pile. Better than an Achilles that's for sure.
So based on the bold, shouldn't Douglas be able to get him to re-negotiate a lower salary? It might also be in Williamson's benefit too, because it would make him more able to be traded to another team as opposed to just being released.
As I said in several posts. I'm not in favor of cutting him now, and maybe not at all, unless they need the cap space later. I would like to see him traded. Even if we only got a 6th round pick for him, that pick could wind up being another Bless Austin who could potentially help us for the next 5-10 years. He could potentially be our new kicker who would turn out to be our kicker for the next 5-10 years. It could be a DB or WR who turns out to be a STs demon. IMO that's better than seeing him walk at the end of the year and getting nothing in return. How many teams do you know that would invest $26 million of their cap (over 10%) on 2 ILBs?
I would hope so from the team perspective. But you're not getting anything but a conditional 7th for him. The only way the player renegotiates if he thinks the renegotiation is still going to be more than he'd get on the open market. Which doesn't make sense for him; he's a FA in a year anyway. Keep the deal or force the cut. He's a non-premium position coming off an ACL tear. Teams aren't giving you much for him. He has more value to us especially because we're not cap strapped. Only way we cut him is if we start to run out of space. But given how modest we are spending on short deals I don't think that's the case. We have one more signing in us of an significance. And it'll be Robby Anderson or Perriman IMO.
Hopefully he's still as good as he was coming off that injury though Though I do think he has some value around the league even with his uncertain situation now. He's been known as a smart, cerebral player and good against the run. There was a pretty noticeable drop off when guys like Cashman and Hewitt took on more responsibility And not to dump on Cashman. I believe he's got a future in the NFL but last year there was too much on his plate
I am ok with keeping Williamson. Why not? If he is healthy, could be a pretty solid D which brings me back to the great LB corps of the Ravens during that devastating defensive teams they had for a while . If they don’t keep him, the Jets do have some capable, developing LBs that will continue to fill in. I just don’t see any team coughing up anything less than 5 round pick for him. But what do I know
I doubt that we'd get a comp pick next year. In order to do that, the Jets would probably have to sign no FAs next offseason. We have 5 ILBS, not 4.
My view on the subject of Williamson is simple. Last year we lost both our two top LB in the blink of an eye. It cost us plenty game wise. So if we can not trade him for value and we have cap room keep his ass. Let’s give GW some ammunition to field a great defensive team. Truth be know GW did plenty more with equal adversity than Gase did offensively. So while JD is fixing the offense, let’s not fuck up the half of the team that made our few wins possible.
That's the thing. I've seen posters on here with medical backgrounds say that it can often take over a year for a player to fully recuperate from an ACL tear, and some players are never the same.
Douglas is keeping those cap cutting guys as depth purposes it seems right now. I feel AW is a very good MLB but in the sense of the current depth, is he expendable coming off an injury? Yes. But if he recovers, man him and Mosley are two good ones to anchor the middle. It will be interesting to see though, if a player like Clowney comes into the fold would Joe D opt to cut Avery for addition cap for more upgrades? As it stands he’s keeping him and a Winters on the team. And it looks like he can bring back Robby without sacrificing these two guys.
So, just trying to think out loud here... He's due $8.5 million this year, of which only $2 million counts against the cap. He's probably not worth more than a conditional 7th rounder in a trade, and if a team values him that low they're not going to hand him a big contract - probably $2 million would be more than he'll be offered. So, the Jets could cut him loose and he gets nothing from them, and probably less than $2 million from anyone else. If all the above is true, why wouldn't he agree to take a big cut - say down to $2.5 million ($2 million base, plus a $500K "bonus" for agreeing to the cut), and it's a win-win for him and the Jets?
We will actually have 5 linebackers that's are two years in the system if you count Cashman. I'm just not sure we keep all 5. We may even bring in another to learn if Williamson does leave. I could see getting rid of him in a trade. Get us a pick + cap space. But I don't think we should just cut him. He is still solid. I think it depends in how much faith GW has in those other 3 guys. If he feels he can get enough out of them then I say we trade them. He's the defensive coordinator. If not then you keep him.
Only $2 million counts against the cap if he is traded or released, otherwise, it's $8.5 million. I don't think there's any way on earth that he would get less than $2 million on a new contract. Where did that come from? I haven't kept up with the ILB position in the draft this year like I have in other years, but looking at CBS Sports top 150 players in the draft, there are only 7 LBs listed: Isaiah Simmons (Clemson), Patrick Queen (LSU), Zach Baun (Wisconsin), Akeem Davis-Gaither (Appalachian St.), Troy Dye (Oregon), Malik Harrison (Ohio St.), and Logan Wilson (Wyoming). Only Simmons, Harrison and Wilson look to be ILBs, the other 4 are OLBs. I guarantee that are more than 3 teams looking for help at ILB. I think GB would grab him up in a NY minute. If the Carolina Panthers weren't rebuilding and tanking, I think they would have. The only question with Williamson is, How healthy is his knee? He would be hurt right now by not being able to visit other teams, be examined by their doctors, and work out for them. I don't know where he is in his rehab, but he may even be able to produce a workout video to send to other teams along with a report from his doctor that the knee is sound and he will be ready for the start of the season. He could sign a provisional contract with a team that would be invalidated if his knee didn't prove to be sound later, or he could wait until the covid-19 mess is behind us then go workout for a team or teams. As long as his knee is sound, I think there would be competition for his services, the Jets would get more than a conditional 7th round pick, he would get a new contract, and it would be more than $2 million.
Well, as we've seen already, lots of players aren't getting signed. Salaries are always based on what the market decides, and is injury is an open question. If he commands more than $2 million - and I admit that he might because I don't know the market - then the Jets might get a comp pick and it would be worth more than a 7th rounder. Maybe the Jets can't get him to take $2,5 million, but they should be able to get him to agree to a significant cut.
