Don't put the Cart before the Horse and this management is famous for doing just that There are NO holes for this guy to run through without drafting that OL you need a lot more than a big name RB Once there is some semblance of an OL its a possibility only..he needs to be paid much less than asking price..guy and his agent are delusional
Guy averages 6 catches a game for 43 yards a game as a running back who also averages over 1,000 yards rushing and 7 TDs per year. You SHOULD pay him somewhat like a WR. It all boils down to surrounding your young, franchise QB with talent. If you aren't going to get the most talented offensive free agent to hit the market in years, what are you doing?
I think he is ALL ABOUT THE MONEY and I do not want to pay him especially when our O Line is bad. I would build the line first before I gave this guy a ton of cash. After we address the line then I would address getting Darnold some toys to play with but if we can't run the ball and Darnold is running for his life nothing else matters
You have one camp on here saying that Bell is going to cost too much, he's going to holdout in year 2 or 3 of the contract and he's not as valuable as you may think because we don't have a strong enough OL to give him the holes to run through. Then you have the other camp saying he's not only a threat as a RB but a WR too (true), he's the dynamic game breaker we've been missing for so long and he's got less wear on his tires than people think taking a year off in the heart of his prime. Well these two camps don't need to be mutually exclusive. I'm of the belief that Mac has not shown us enough to believe that he's going to get us a game breaking threat in the draft in the middle rounds. McGuire and Cannon are not game breakers for those who want to point to them. They are serviceable, there's a big difference. So now that leaves us with...do the Jets just want to draft/sign in FA a few OL and a couple of serviceable skill players later in the draft? Knowing full well with Mac's track record that these players may never even see the damn field. I guess this would give them more cap flexibility to sign a few more players at positions of need like Rush End/OLB, WR and DB. Or do the Jets want to go all in for one of the most dynamic players in the game, elevate Sam and the entire offense and actually swing for the fences? I guess it depends if you believe in the slow, steady approach or the instant, expensive upgrade. The only cause for concern I have with the slow, steady approach is Mac not having a true vision of how to assemble the right pieces to build it for long-term sustainability. If we had someone more qualified in charge maybe I'd be more ok with the more conservative approach. It's a tough call.
In answer to your question in bold, about half our roster. The Jets only have 29 players under contract for next season. That's the only reason we have so much cap space for next season. It's a mirage. Between a third and a half of that could be gone before we even begin to talk to outside FAs. I'd much rather use what we would have given Bell to sign Mark Ingram and two WRs (Golden Tate and one of Adam Humphrey and Tyrell Williams), or to sign AJ Cann, Mitch Morse, Trent Brown and one of Humphrey or Williams. IMO that would help the team a lot more than just signing Bell, and we'd have less to worry about in terms of injury or suspension.
I still don't understand why people think we can't spend any more money if we give Bell the $17 mil he wants. We could give Bell that money, give DeMarcus Lawrence $17 mil (probably less), and still have $40+ mil to spend on the pedestrian options we have at OL.
This FA class is very weak. There is next to nothing in weapons outside of Bell. Everyone is bitching about how this team never has any talent on offense yet most of the folks want to keep drafting defense and are scared to overpay. You have to overpay in FA. It’s the nature of the game. Sam needs help and not a bunch of jags or injury prone players like McGuire and Enunwa. As it stands now, the only playmaker on this team that the defense may plan for is Robbie and even he isn’t a true #1 receiver. If we want Sam to truly blossom, we need to get him some elite talent. At any cost....
Both Bell and Lawrence are going to want huge upfront signing bonuses. Not sure how that works against our cap figure next year and in subsequent years. Lawrence easily $17M/year. Donald makes $20M/year and he's going to want to be right there.
I think the plan is to upgrade the oline as well as target offensive play makers. A lot of people are suggesting it's not worth bringing him in because of the line, but that's kind of a defeatist attitude. I still think he's too expensive, but if the Jets wait to fix the oline before trying to sign him, they will miss out, even if they don't upgrade the line. It would be a huge upgrade to the team, even with the same oline (which won't happen).
I disagree about the FA market being pretty weak. Are there a bunch of topflight players? No, but that's not really what FA is for anyway. There are a number of players available who could help the Jets and would either fill holes, upgrade starters or upgrade depth. We also may need to sign a number of FAs, as we only have 29 players under contract for next season, only have 7 draft picks, and with the way Mac drafts, half of them may not make the team. We need either a new starting C (and depth) or a new LG. Long can man one of the two spots, but we will need a new starter, and we need better depth than Dakota Dozier and Jonothan Harrison. We don't know that Shell will be fully recovered from surgery or if he will be the same player. We need a better backup than Qvale, and we need a backup LT. I believe that Ogbuehi can play both OT positions. Claiborne hasn't been very consistent or good. The Jets could look to replace him. Tomlinson shouldn't be back, and Sterling could be upgraded. James is a good young blocker and decent receiver, or we could add Jared Cook who'd be a great target for Sam to help his development. Following is a list of players I'd rather sign any day than Bell, and in all likelihood we could sign 2-4 of the cheaper of them (maybe more) for what we'd have to pay Bell, upgrade more than one position, and then not have to worry about his staying healthy, not getting suspended, and not being a cancer in the lockerroom while the team struggled with growing pains. Edge Rusher - one or two of DeMarcus Lawrence, Jadaveon Clowney, Anthony Barr, Shane Ray*, and Dante Fowler* WR - one or two of Golden Tate, Adam Humphreys, and Tyrell Williams RB - one of Tevin Coleman, Peyton Barber, TJ Yeldon and Mark Ingram OL - 2-3 of AJ Cann, Mitch Morse, Trent Brown, and Cedric Ogbuehi TE - Jesse James or Jared Cook CB - one or two of Ronald Darby, Bradley Roby, Jason Verrett There's also a long list of young CBs who could be better than those at the bottom of our roster and one or more may be better than Claiborne * If we can't get one of Lawrence, Clowney or Barr
Filling numerous holes and upgrading several positions. We certainly don't need to be overpaying a prima donna that has only played in every game one out of 5 seasons. We need multiple options for Sam so he can spread the ball around and our offense harder to stop. With our OL, opponents could key on stopping Bell, and then our offense would be screwed. Besides, he's not gonna sign with the Jets. He's gonna sign with Indy or some team that is a playoff team already.
It’s amazing how scared of adding high end talent Jets fans are yet they complain about the roster not having any high end talent. The opportunity is sitting right there to add one of the most dynamic offensive players in the game yet there’s posters on here saying he’ll cost too much. GTFO we have tons of cap room, go out and get a dynamic playmaker. Not like there is a ton of clear upgrades available at other positions. Bell is a clear upgrade and fills one of the biggest needs on the team.
If a player wants a ton up front, they can get it as partially a signing bonus. That number gets spread across every year of his contract and turns into "dead cap" if we decide to move on. You could theoretically sign Lawrence and have him count for $10 mil against the cap but give him $25 mil at signing.There are tons of ways to make the numbers work the way both the team and player want them to, especially on a long deal. I like almost every player you've listed here. One of Lawrence or Clowney would be fantastic, and I bet you could even get someone like Ray on the cheap on top of it. But who of those guys on O is making Sam's life easier? Is Coleman better than what McGuire could potentially be for probably 5 times the money? Is there a reason you can't sign any of those OL after already signing Bell AND one of the top tier edge rushers? I would love Tate, but the other two are just Quincy and Robby with different names and skin colors. You have to swing for the fences when you have your franchise QB under contract for pennies the next three seasons and you coincidentally have over $100 mil to spend to put guys around him. I'm not pulling a Manish here... life almost certainly goes on if Bell goes elsewhere... but if you're serious about building around your franchise QB, you go get the best free agent available since god only knows when. Especially when you can still sign 4-5 impact guys afterwards.
I definitely agree there. I think Ingram is the better option and he can catch out of the backfield as well.
I really like what you did here.........this is exactly what I've been clamoring for. Sign 2 pass rushers but different tiers not two of the most expensive.........If Bell goes elsewhere I've said go get Yeldon and maybe a guy like Bryce Love is there at the top of the third round. I would also like to see them sign Jesse James and team him with Herndon. AJ Cann would be a decent signing at guard. Draft a center..... These would be good quality young FA signings. The Jets can really set themselves up well this offseason if they followed this logic.
Good point but the other thing people are missing is they seem to be focussed on only next years cap. Signing Bell will impact our cap for several years. Let's assume Todd Gurley set the market for Bell. This year Gurley has a 7.2 million cap hit with 24 million in dead cap Next year 9.2 million with 16.8 in dead cap 3rd year 17.25 million with 12.6 in dead cap 4th year 13.2 million with 8.4 in dead cap. He can be cut in year 5 with a dead cap of 4.2 million or they could renegotiate and extend. If the Jets were in position to win the SB next year and could afford to take a cap hit and then purge other players after next year go for it. The Jets unlike the Rams will probably front load rather than back load but that still presents cap issues and dead cap issues beyond next year. Does Bell's talent make us an instant SB contender next year? Does Bell's character help change the culture of our locker room and team? We grossly over paid Curtis Martin but Martin wasn't just a mercenary, he was brought in to change the culture. Even that move, as good as it was, cost us flexibility to sign other players.
Mitch Morse at C would definitely make Sam's easier, or if Long goes back to C then I believe AJ Cann would. Ogbuehi would be insurance in case Shell isn't fully recovered and ready to start next season and could back up both OT positions. He's better than Qvale or Ijalana, and may be better than Shell. How much we have to spend will all depend on how much cap it takes to sign about 15-20 more of our players. At present, we only have 29 players under contract for next season. IMO we need to sign 15-20 of our present players, as even after one accounts for the 7 players that will be drafted, we aren't going to be able to sign 17 FAs. And we need to have all holes addressed so that Mac isn't forced to have to draft a position or positions because we don't have players at those positions. Between re-signing our FAs and the draft, I think at least half of that $106 million will be gone. I also don't think that we can sign Bell if we sign one of Lawrence or Clowney and maybe another rusher like Ray. Even if we could, we'd have no money left to address the WR position, the OL or CB. I think the wisest use of the money would be to upgrade the overall talent level of the team and the depth. All we need for 2019 is a stopgap at the RB position. Supposedly, the 2020 draft is going to be loaded with excellent RB prospects. You never know, since Mac has some luck with UDFAs and 7th round draft picks, he might find a small school RB who could turn in the same kind of production that Denver's gotten this year. Also don't forget that after Enunwa and R. Anderson, who will our WR corps be? Kearse shouldn't be brought back. Do you really want Charone Peake, Deontay Burnett, and Andre Roberts or Rishard Matthews, DeAngelo Yancey, and JJ Jones filling out our WR corps? We only have 7 draft picks, and Mac's record of drafting WRs isn't exactly confidence-inspiring. At a minimum, I think we need to sign an edge rusher, 2 WRs, 2 OL, a RB, a TE, and a CB in FA. The negotiations with Bell will likely be lengthy, and if I were a betting man, I'd bet that Bell will just use us to drive the price up with the Colts or some other team. As a result of messing around with Bell, we would probably lose out on the other FAs that could really help Sam and our team. The only way I'd want Bell is if he agreed on day 1 of FA to play for the Jets for $8 million a year for 2 years and signed the contract. That's not gonna happen. He wants around $16 million per season. That's just nuts.
