Posted in: NFL, Sports | Tagged: David Harris, entertainment, Mike Maccagnan, New York Jets, nfl, Ryan Clady, sports

Will The New York Jets Purge Of 2017 Lead To A Binge In 2018?

No team ever wants to say that they have gone into rebuilding mode. Mainly because it admits that they don't expect to be any good while in that mode. Seasons are often lost during rebuilding and fans become frustrated. And you don't ever admit it because you still need to sell tickets and you want fans to believe you have a viable team on the field.

I am sorry to tell New York Jets fans… you are in a rebuilding year.

The Jets have made more cuts than an Edward Scissorhands reboot written by George R. R. Martin. 11 veteran players have been purged from the roster taking the team from one of the highest payrolls in the league to one of the lowest, cutting $67.9 Million from their payroll. The players cut: Ryan Clady, Nick Mangold, Darelle Revis, Brandon Marshall, Eric Decker, David Harris, Marcus Gilchrist, Breno Giacomini, Nick Folk, Erin Henderson and Calvin Pryor. That is a kicker, a center, two wide receivers, two linebacker, two corner backs, a safety and two offensive tackles.

There could be an argument that some of these players have either not lived up to their potential or have lost a step. But some of them were the top player in their position and leaders on the team. This purging is extreme.

The team's general manager Mike Maccagnan addressed the media Tuesday evening:

I think our focus has been from day one to build this thing through the draft. We've obviously talked about building a young team going forward and position ourselves for success. It's going to be a competitive roster. There's going to be a lot of opportunities for a lot of players on this roster and that will play itself out over time. But again, we're doing things we feel are going to help this organization both short and long term.

He was then asked some pretty poignant questions like if the team was tanking the season for a better draft placement in 2018 or if he believed that this was now the worst roster in the NFL. He gave political answers to both that neither confirmed nor denied. He did say more about whether the recent cutting of Decker and Harris was financially motivated:

No, I think there's a lot of things that go into these decisions. I think we've been focused on trying to create opportunities for a lot of players on this roster. We have some very competitive positions, and we'll see how it unfolds going forward.

Since the majority of the players cut were in the final years of their contracts, the team won't see much in the way of dead cap space and will like go into the 2018 season with between $60 and $80 million in cap space to go free-agent shopping. Which is great for the future, but bleak for the 2017 outlook. How will Maccagnan measure success for this year?

I think we'll measure [success] in terms of different things. Obviously, wins and losses. We'll measure it on how players develop. There's a lot of aspects that go into that, and we'll evaluate it going forward.

Jets fans may want to find a new Sunday hobby for this winter. Maybe they can work on a new book called, "The Year I Rooted For The Giants."

[Source: ESPN]

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