We shouldn't get too crazy with who he signed. When you look at what he signed each for it's pretty obvious nobody else wanted any of them. That's not to say we won't benefit from each of them but it's not like we got the top 3 players in the draft at each of those positions.
Nobody else wanted Decker or Johnson? I could have sworn there were other teams talking to them. Decker could have gone anywhere he wanted practically. It's this grand Jets conspiracy rearing its head again. Everybody the Jets sign, nobody else wants, but all other free agent moves to other teams were great. Same ol' song and dance.
We let Johnson sit for over a week and he had no other visits. An argument may be made for Decker but he never got out of the Jets facility before signing so we will never know but that in itself is strange unless he really wanted the Jets and didn't want to visit anywhere else and I will be damned if I can figure out why..oh..
I don't think much of this argument. In the normal course other teams tend not to pursue too many FA's because they don't have a match of available talent and specific needs. Vick is a perfect example, since he has some issues healthwise and agewise, which even for the Jets makes him problematic medium term. But in the short run he was the best available. And that's why the Jets got him, since their specific situation is one where they had to let Sanchez go, and did not want to go into the season depending on Smith and Simms. One could argue no other teams had that kind of situation who also did not have high draft picks to go after the top Qb prospects in the draft, as apparently a team like Cleveland is. Johnson also has some durability issues, but what swayed the Jets in his favor was that he looks like a perfect match for Ivory, who himself is too risky to depend on carrying too much of a load at RB. Offhand I can't think of any teams that quite fit that situation's description. I suppose you could debate about Decker, but whether it's his wife's career or he just wants to play for the Jets, it sure looked like he had hte Jets at the top of his list, and everyone else saw the same thing we did. I suppose of Idzik had lowballed him too much, he would have gone elsewhere. But they reached a fair deal. In general, though, even top FA choices are usually only going to be actively pursued by teams that have the right situation.
The guy has been incredibly durable, his carries and receptions have been remarkably consistent throughout his entire career, especailly his last 3 years. Maybe he starts to break down in the future but I'm not sure how anyone can criticize his durability based upon what he's done on the field. And given the stable of backs we have, he's not even going to have the workload he had in Tennessee. _
