HEAL THE DEAL
Jets have fortune to spend, but GM’s big signings have flopped
IN THE span of 12 days in the summer of 2016, Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan handed out two big contracts. On July 15, he signed Muhammad Wilkerson to a fiveyear, $86 million deal. On July 27, he signed Ryan Fitzpatrick to a one-year, $12 million deal.
Those moves tied up the two biggest loose ends around the Jets that summer and were widely hailed as good moves by fans and observers (raising my hand sheepishly.) Whoops. Seventeen months later it is clear those two contracts were mistakes and now are two of the biggest blemishes on Maccagnan’s Jets résumé. Fitzpatrick flamed out last season and the Jets and Wilkerson are heading for a divorce, perhaps as early as Wednesday, after his alarm clock failed one too many times.
Throw in the five-year, $70 million deal he signed Darrelle Revis to in 2015 and you could argue that Maccagnan’s three biggest contracts have all been busts. Revis’ deal falls more on owner Woody Johnson, who was pushing to bring him back, than Maccagnan, but it still counts as a Maccagnan signing.
The Wilkerson and Fitzpatrick decisions were similar, and you wonder how they will affect Maccagnan’s decision-making going forward. Both players were coming off strong 2015 seasons, but the organization clearly had reservations about paying big money to either one. With Wilkerson, there were questions about his commitment and how he would react once he got paid. With Fitzpatrick, there were questions about whether 2015 was an anomaly that could be duplicated.
In both cases, those reservations turned out to be prescient. What is most disturbing about both of these contract failures is the Jets had spent time with the players. This was not like signing a free agent from another team and then finding out his issues. They knew more about them than any outsider did and still they did not seem to trust their guts on the players. Maccagnan buckled at the last minute with both players. Was it public pressure? There were drumbeats from the media to sign both players and it is possible Maccagnan fell into the trap of listening to them.
Both players looked like they might go unsigned by the Jets until the final hours. For Wilkerson, to whom the Jets had applied the franchise tag, there was a 4 p.m. deadline on July 15 for him to sign a long-term deal or else he would have to play 2016 under the tag. Just before 4 p.m. that day, the Jets and Wilkerson agreed to a deal that paid him $36.75 million guaranteed.
Fitzpatrick did not have a true deadline, but the Jets set an internal one of getting him signed before the first team meeting of training camp, which was at 7 p.m. on July 27. Fitzpatrick agreed to his deal just before 7 p.m. and made it to that first meeting.
The Jets are projected to have more than $80 million in cap space to spend this offseason. This is Maccagnan’s chance to add an influx of talent to a roster that has plenty of holes.
Should you trust him to find the answers?
Well, Maccagnan has shown he can identify talent, but, oddly, he usually does better on the smallticket items than the bigticket ones. His additions of Demario Davis, Kony Ealy, Jermaine Kearse and Jeremy Kerley all paid dividends this season. Signing Robby Anderson as an undrafted free agent in 2016 looks like a brilliant move.
On the negative side for Maccagnan are the failures of big-ticket signings Revis, Wilkerson and Fitzpatrick along with the drafting of quarterback in bubble wrap, Christian Hackenberg, in the second round of the 2016 draft.
One thing Maccagnan deserves credit for with the signings of Revis and Wilkerson was building easy escapes after a few years, and Fitzpatrick’s was just a one-year deal. Still, Maccagnan spent nearly $88 million of Johnson’s money on those players with little to show in return.
Maccagnan’s freeagency batting average is below the Mendoza line right now. It would help his cause if he hit some home runs in free agency this winter.