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Friday, February 27, 2009

Goodbye Coles!


Mike Nugent will be testing the free agent market “The Jets have been really cool about the situation and gave me time to decide whether to stay,” Nugent told The Star-Ledger in response to an e-mail Tuesday. “They approached us last week to re-sign, and also called again this week, and gave us a chance to talk about making a decision.

“I have so much respect for the organization and my teammates, but I feel it might be time for me to move on. (General Manager) Mike (Tannanbaum), (director of football operations) Ari (Nissim) and the coaches have been incredibly understanding of my decision process and I am really grateful to them"- The Newark Star Ledger

Let me translate this: The Jets are offering him the league minimum like the mediocre player that he is. That would create a scenario where we could bring him to camp to compete and cut him with no cap penalties.

Speaking of players who have chosen to move on, Laveranues Coles renegotiated his contract basically giving up his final year and six million guaranteed dollars. His best years are behind him and frankly the cap space is more valuable than his services. I was impressed by Cole’s comments about new coach Rex Ryan and how he felt very positive about their meetings. He said he would be open to coming back. Basically Rex said 'Hi I'm your new coach..... get out' and Coles said 'thank you sir, you are a hell of a guy!'. I guess that’s the difference between knowing how to handle players and being a complete non-personality like Eric Mangini (who is really charming the media and his new players in Cleveland). For the record I see Coles signing with Jacksonville not Miami.

Now the question is who will step in as our #1 receiver? In my opinion there is not a potential #1 WR in free agency. Houshmandzadeh is simply too old to contribute for more than a couple of years. He's going to demand a long term, big money contract and we have more than enough "past their prime" overpriced players... see Sean Ellis, Damien Woody, Alan Faneca, and Brett Favre( Ok, I guess #4 doesn't count anymore... has he filed those retirement papers yet???)

So that leaves the draft and trades. Kenny Britt from Rutgers would be a great addition, but a new quarterback trying to establish himself in NY needs a true number one. Obvious names on the block are Boldin from Arizona, Chad Johnson from the Bengals, and Burress for the G-men. Johnson and Plax are simply have too much baggage and Boldin would require most of our day one draft picks to make a trade happen.

That leaves no other options. Trades, free agency and the draft, that’s the only way to find a number one guy. I think Mr.T has painted himself in a corner right now and I don't feel optimistic for who ever takes over as our signal caller next year. My hope is that the Jets have planned this out and have some sort of trade worked out that is not obvious to an outsider. That requires a lot of hope, Obama-esc hope!

As a final note on the WR dept, I would pursue RFA Miles Austin from Dallas. Austin and Britt would compliment Cotch, Stuckey, and Clowney well. There isn’t a ready made #1 in this group but there might be a future #1.



Playing QB in NYC is unlike any other city in the NFL, our new signal caller needs a go-to-guy who can strech the field!



J.Wagner

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