Yesterday was a day that will be one of the most confusing days in not just New York Jets history, but in NFL history. General manager Mike Maccagnan was fired. But you are probably wondering why it shows a lot of dysfunction and disagreement. Let's explain.
If you're going to fire a general manager, you have to do it when the season ends. The Jets thought differently. They decided to go in a backwards direction because that's what they seem to do all the time. It started with the firing of Todd Bowles where owner Christopher Johnson trusted Maccagnan to find a coach in Adam Gase, sign top free agents, and draft players. And yet 3 weeks after the draft, they fired Maccagnan. To make matters worse, Adam Gase has had a different perspective on some of Maccagnan's offseason moves. Let's take it from the beginning. The Jets offseason started off strong. They traded for all pro guard Kelechi Osemele and signed pro bowl linebackers C.J. Mosley and Anthony Barr. The only problem, was that on the next day, Barr decided to go resign with the Vikings. It was looked at as a soft move by most fans, but what wasn't noticed, was the fact that Gase and Maccagnan had lost trust in each other. Nonetheless, Maccagnan made up for the loss of Barr by signing all pro running back Le'Veon Bell. It was considered a steal for New York considering that they only have to pay Bell 52 million. But another problem rose from the organization, Gase didn't want Bell at that price. He already knows how good a player Bell is dating back to his 167 yards and 2 touchdowns against Gase's Dolphins in the 2016 playoffs. $52 million isn't a lot either for not only one of the best running backs, but for one of the best players in the league. It was probably the 35 million guaranteed money that Gase didn't like in his contract. So while all these feelings remained, the Jets' offseason was already viewed as a success. The draft also got good results. With Quinnen Williams, some think that the Jets picked the best defensive player in the draft. Then rumors about a possible rift came out. It happened two days after the first round of the draft. The reports talked about the rift starting due to disagreements over their free agency strategy. This was actually a surprising reason considering that the biggest controversial move in their offseason at the time was not trading down to get more picks in the draft. Fortunately, both Gase and Maccagnan both said that there wasn't any rift between them and that there's no reason to think that there was a rift considering how successful their offseason was. Everyone believed them and just like that, everything was fine. Right? Well you're wrong. On May 15, the Jets fired him in what was a shocking move. Maccagnan was always in the hot seat, but if the Jets were to fire him, it should've been after the season along with Todd Bowles. But no. They decided to fire him after doing all of the offseason responsibilities. Now Adam Gase is the interim GM even though there's a strong possibility that they'll hire Joe Douglas who's a part of one of football's most respected front offices in the Philadelphia Eagles. As the Jets currently stand, Gase is the general manager and key players like Bell and Leonard Williams' aren't a lock to be on this team for the long term even though I personally think they'll both remain long term. But New York now is in a lot of dysfunction at a alarming rate that hasn't been seen in football before. Even if they have a solid season which I think will still happen, they got to replace the chaos that's going on right now. As we all know, this is the time to keep tabs on football. All of the trades and free agent signings are passed us. It is time to see how every NFL team completes their offseason. Through the draft.
This year's draft brought excitement, disappointment, and curiosity about every pick. In the end, we don't know whether the #1 pick will be going to Canton, or end up as a huge draft bust. However, it doesn't mean that we can't give our own opinion's about what we have learned from this year's first round. Like always, a good amount of quarterbacks were selected. This year, 3 of them were selected. They were Kyler Murray, Daniel Jones, Dwayne Haskins. What was surprising, was that they were selected at unexpected spots. Murray went 1 to the Cardinals which was expected, but not guaranteed since they had Josh Rosen who had just completed his rookie season. Nonetheless, I think Murray will thrive in Kliff Kingsbury's pass happy offense better than Josh Rosen would, and he'll make a positive impact on the Cardinals. I have a problem with Daniel Jones. I don't think he did enough at a small football program in Duke to be selected at 6. The Giants could've waited on him and select another talented player in the draft with more potential. The Redskins hit a home run in Haskins. In what was a season that showed a lot of dysfunction within the organization, Washington needed to get a quarterback and they got it in Haskins, a guy who threw for 50 touchdown passes and ran for 4 scores while only throwing for 8 interceptions. If there's someone that can turn around this franchise, he'd be the one to do it. The star unit of players selected in this draft however, were defensive lineman. A total of 11 defensive linemen were selected in this year's draft. Five of them were in the top 10. Most notably, was Nick Bosa, Quinnen Williams, Clelin Ferrell, Josh Allen, and Ed Oliver. Those who are most likely to succeed are Bosa, Williams, Allen, and Oliver. Despite putting up decent numbers, Bosa is seen as an impact player for the 49ers with lots of potential for a successful translation to the NFL. Williams, who was selected by the Jets, is seen as the best defensive player in this draft thanks to his size on the interior and his quickness on the edge. Both of those factors will be essential to Gregg Williams' defense in the years to come. Allen, who progressed in his career at Kentucky, will be going to a Jaguars team with a really good defensive line in Calais Campbell and Yannick Ngakoue. If he can impact the team's fortunes like Kentucky, he'll have an amazing career. Oliver will be another piece to a young and already effective Bills defense. It'll be a question if Oliver can adapt to the NFL as well as the cold weather, but if he can, Buffalo will have a defense to be reckoned with in the years to come. The final thing that we learned from this draft, was that there were lots of surprising and statement picks. Some teams reached on players that they could've drafted with their other first round picks. The first surprise was that the Jets, who traded away 2 second round picks to the Colts so they could draft quarterback Sam Darnold, would trade down for more overall draft picks. But New York had other ideas. They decided to use the 3rd pick to get Williams, who has all of the skills for a really good career. Raiders had the 4th pick in the draft and they needed a pass rusher to fill in the void of Khalil Mack. With the Jets' selection of Williams, it appeared likely that Oakland would select Allen, but they instead went with Ferrell. I don't think that Ferrell will be bad, but I don't think he's a top 5 pick in the draft. The Giants raised the most eyebrows with their pick. Needing a quarterback to succeed Eli Manning, they selected Daniel Jones who in my opinion, won't be the savior the Giants think he'll be. The final pick that raised my eyebrows at least, was the Ravens' selection of Marquise Brown. Last year, they made the playoffs because of the improvement from their offense while their defense remained amongst the best in the league. But in the offseason, they lost 4 major contributors in Eric Weddle, C.J. Mosley, Terrell Suggs, and Za'Darius Smith. So it was expected that they'd select a defender in this draft. But with linebacker Devin Bush taken by the Steelers, the Ravens decided to upgrade their offense with Brown. Since he now gives Lamar Jackson a go to receiver and is the final piece for a potential triplets duo along with the newly acquired running back Mark Ingram, Baltimore's offense will be exciting in the years to come. There's nothing like a draft in which we can have lots of takeaways based on the selections that happened. There were some surprises such as Jones going before Haskins. Unsurprising were the 11 selections of defensive linemen, proving that it is now one of the most valued positions in today's NFL. The bottom line is that while we never officially know who's going to be good or bad, we can still learn from every draft class, and here's my analysis of this year's draft. On Wednesday, March 13, former Pittsburg Steelers running back and all pro Le'Veon Bell signed a 4 year, $52.5 million contract with the New York Jets. It was a surprising amount of money for a guy that sat out for all of 2018, but nevertheless, it was a good contract for the Jets since many people expected a bigger deal. What the Jets also got was a lot more positives out of his contract. Here's why.
One reason this deal should be great for everyone involved, is that Bell is an amazing talent. From 2014-2017, Bell has averaged 1,119 rushing yards, 565 receiving yards, and 7 touchdowns. He has continuously shown an amazing ability which is to make plays with all of the patience he has. Bell knows when to strategically wait from 3-5 seconds before making a play. Most importantly, Bell's all around skills as a running back have contributed to wins. In 3 out of Bell's 5 seasons in the NFL, he rushed for 1,000 yards. In those 3 seasons, the Steelers won their division. Bell will most likely bring all of those qualities to the Jets. Bell is the kind of player who will make the other players on the offense around him better. He is someone who, despite being the great player he is individually, can also improve certain areas of the offense, Throughout his career in Pittsburgh, Bell has improved their running game, passing attack, and pass protection. For a Jets offense that already has a young core of talent in quarterback Sam Darnold, running back Elijah McGuire, wide receivers Quincy Enunwa and Robby Anderson, and tight end Chris Herndon IV, this is a major improvement regarding talent and reliability. The final reason is because Le'Veon was a polarizing figure in Pittsburgh, he's in need of a fresh start in New York. In his final 2 seasons with the Steelers, everyone knew that besides playing for individual and team success, Bell was also playing for a new contract. After 2016, he rejected a 5 year contract extension which forced the Steelers to place the franchise tag on him to prevent him from entering free agency. After 2017, the Steelers had to tag him again. However, his agent reported that 2018 will be Bell's last season as a Steeler. What Bell also did surprised lots of players, fans, and analysts: he sat out for the entire season. Now that Bell has a fresh start with a team with lots of potential, his team placement won't be as stressful as it was in Pittsburgh. So not only did the Jets simply get a great player in Le'Veon Bell, but they got a guy who makes others around him better, knows how to win, and will be in a better situation than he was earlier in his career. Jets defensive tackle and Bell's former teammate in Pittsburgh Steve McLendon perfectly summed up Bell's qualities back in December saying, "If you get him in here, I know one thing about him. When he steps foot in this building, you're going to get 100 percent from this guy." He continued by saying that people should, "just know that he's going to bring out the best out of so many people. Just imagine: He'd be the Jamal Adams on offense. Loud. Energetic. Confident. And you know he's going to make plays." As things stand now, we know the fantasy has become a reality and hopefully, that reality will translate into one of greatest moves ever made by the Jets. |
Date Published
April 2024
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