To which I'd add, or if all the other teams do away with the offset language for DTs, Ss, RBs, etc., then the Jets will. QB is a horse of a different color, especially when he is a top 5 draft pick and will be starting immediately. He needs to be in camp day one.
Hah... no thanks. Last time I went to a practice with our rookie QB unsigned I had to watch Josh McCown throw to Jermaine Kearse.
Say we cut Zach after year 3 of his 4 year guarnateed 39 mil deal, and he signs with someone for 2 mil. What that means is that he will get paid 2 mil by the new team, and the Jets will not have to pay him 2 mil, and get 2M CAP relief. So, Zach, still ends up with 39 mil. I believe the whole thing is done in order not to give a player financial incentive to want to leave the team. Say Zach is benched in that same year 3 a la Rosen. If there no offset, for year 4 he has extra financial motivation to try to force a release, since all the money new team will pay him that 4th year will be ON TOP of the 4th year Jets guaranteed him. Hence if he scores 2 mil deal to be a sub somewhere else, he ends up with 41 mil. That's why 30 of 32 teams put the clause in, so that you still get all guaranteed money, but there is no financial motivation to get released early.
I'm sure it's not. It would be a ridiculously lame one if it is, because both are fringe NFL talents. If Saleh and JD are that lame, we're in trouble. Johnson has the most experience of the two, but he's already like 50 years old (35 really). If they're seriously considering signing one of those guys, then either they're expecting a prolonged holdout, or one or both of Morgan and White suck, and Saleh and JD totally mishandled the QB situation.
Johnson has played for practically every team in the NFL and apparently can throw a tight spiral. Mannion I'm not sure about. I sure hope it's a ploy to motivate Wilson to sign on the dotted line. It's never easy being a Jets fan even when things are looking up it's nerve wracking.
I'm sure the real reason the Jets are working out Johnson and Mannion is because they at least have NFL experience and can helm the team while they get up to speed on the new offense. They can't possibly throw Morgan out there he's had the same amount of time in NFL as I have.
I think a reasonable compromise is to waive the offset only if the trade is forced by the QB, not the team. That takes care of that. If we trade him, we suck it up, if he forces the trade, he sucks it up. End of story.
What Zach (or more likely his agent) is trying to do is basically bypass the spirit of rookie scale of CBA. The whole point of the scale was to ensure a player drafted in the spot Zach is drafted is making a set guaranteed salary. The idea was to avoid rookie holdouts. What the agent is trying to do now is create a scenario to tiptoe around CBA where his client can make MORE than that rookie scale if he forces the team to release him and tags on elsewhere. Granted it is a rare scenario, but not unheard of. It's like a prenup almost, where if everything works as intended it never comes into play. But both parties are thinking what if it is not all great, then what? And the agent now is trying to bypass the spirit of CBA - to give financial incentive to leave sooner in a scenario where Zach does not succeed and becomes a sub. That's my thinking about it. Of course he understands that fans like us would not be thinking about the "divorce" now and want to see Zach ASAP, so that gives them the power to squeeze in negotiation. JD could have countered that by saying we get a couple of scrubs for training camp and you can sit it out. Zach I am sure also wants to get on the fields ASAP. Let's see what happens. I do hope it will not come down to signing these pathetic scrubs, but you never know.
