Marshall & Harvin

Brandon marshal will be a NY jet in roughly 12 hours when the New league year begins and free agency officially opens. Our new GM wrestled this elite wide out from Chicago yielding only a 5th round pick. Outstanding anyway you look at it. I am a fan of Marshall, since he turned his life around that is. He was a raging hard on his first few years in the league. But, he had the courage to get diagnosed, seek treatment and talk about it publicly. Even though he is 30 years old, I think he will have a very significant impact on the field and in the locker room as well for the next 2 years.

Percy Harvin is now considered expendable. WTF does that mean? If you want Harvin cut you:

• ...don't understand the CBA and the requirement for each team to spend 89% of its cap over a 4 year period. We are on pace for 72% 2 years into it. We need a 10 million dollar guy on our roster.

• You believe that by keeping Harvin we have too many playmakers on offense. Sure with Marshall and Decker we have a solid #1 and #2 WR now, and Kerly is an excellent slot guy, but Harvin contributes by running the ball, catching it, in the slot, on the outside and he can win us 2 or 3 games just from a few spectacular special teams plays.

• You think he is too injury prone. Well, that just proves the point that if we can afford it, we can't let playmakers walk. Decker and Marshall both missed games last year with injury.

• You don't think one step ahead. This is chess not checkers. Think it out... cut Harvin, The Ravens, Pats or Dolphins sign him, we are weaker, our AFC rivals are stronger, now it's week 17, we are tied with Miami for the final wildcard spot. Harvin torches us. WAS HE WORTH 10 MILLION THEN???

The simple solution with Harvin is to renegotiate and get him 7.5 million a year for 2 years guaranteed. That would put him at the same pay grade as Decker and Marshall, and it's more than he will get on the open market. It's also better for him, because he's scheduled to make 10.5 million this year and its not guaranteed. So if he blows out his knee the 1st game of the season we cut him and his career is over and he's broke. There's no "insurance" on his current higher paid deal.

I listed a scenario in my last post regarding drafting Mariota. I said the only way I'd draft him and keep him would be if we somehow landed Marshall in a trade and kept Harvin & Decker. Well, we will know in about a week if the Jets are going to keep Percy. If we have those 3 savvy veterans who all have different strengths which are also very complimentary to one another, I do take Mariota with the #6 overall pick.

I let him, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Geno Smith fight it out all summer. The guy who gives us the best chance to win week one starts. Fitzy is a guy I always liked and he had his best years working with our new OC Gailey. I also haven't totally given up on Smith. The way this plays out is simple.

Either Fitz or Geno wins the week 1 starting job. If it's Fitz, Smith is most likely released. If it's Smith, he gets his final chance to steal the long term starting job. Watching Geno, his best games have been at the end of his first 2 seasons. It seems like once the playoffs are out of sight, Geno relaxes, the game slows down and he actually looks good. Maybe with the Duck coming to town he will sense that the public perception is that it's just a matter of time until Super Mariota takes over. He will play with nothing to lose, and might actually do well.

However, I think Geno and/or Fitz will most likely last 5-7 weeks. They both have a chance to help us win, but I doubt they will. Fitz is too old, and Geno is not dedicated enough. So week 8, Mariota takes over, and gets some valuable experience, heading into 2016. This isn't a sexy prediction, but we just don't have enough of a draw to land the free agents we would need to be competitive this season.