The thing is, we don't have to. With the Uncapped year coming up, he's screwed and we have him locked up for a couple years at least without having to pay him. RFAs go to six years, so he'd be under contract through 2011 I believe. I might be wrong on this but it's pretty clear that he wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. The fact that we're negotiating with him is a good faith gesture on the Jets part...
The NYJ front office is being smart with this situation. As others have mentioned, LW has no leverage in this situation. The Jets can just wait til next year and franchise him and at the same time have a better indication of what Leon's capable of in a bigger role. Also, with the unstable cap situation looming, the NYJ are wise to wait this out. In the end, LW will be a Jet long term, and that's what both sides want.
They won't have to franchise him. The RFA rules change. He'll be an RFA and we won't need to franchise hiim.
