Cousins key to Jets'strategy
Mike Maccagnan, you’re on the clock.
The Jets’ transformational offseason really begins this week at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. NFL executives, coaches, agents and college players will descend upon downtown Indy this week to begin what figures to be a few interesting months for the Jets.
Maccagnan begins his fourth year as the Jets general manager with plenty of holes to fill — none bigger than at quarterback. The Jets are expected to be major players in the Kirk Cousins free-agent sweepstakes and there should be some rumors about that coming out of the combine this week. While the Jets can’t officially speak to Cousins’ agent for another two weeks, there are always back-room discussions at the combine before free agency opens.
Cousins is expected to get around $30 million per year and the Jets will have plenty of competition. The Vikings, Broncos and Browns are all viewed as possible landing spots for the Redskins quarterback.
While the Jets have their sights set on Cousins, they also will be evaluating the college quarterback class this week. If the Jets lose out on Cousins, Plan B is expected to be re-signing Josh McCown and drafting a quarterback to develop under him. The quarterback class is led by Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, Josh Allen and Baker Mayfield. All of them come with question marks. The Jets will try to find some answers to those questions this week through onfield drills and interviews with players.
If the Jets do sign Cousins, they will be in position to draft the best player available with the No. 6 pick. Their roster has so many holes that they could go in a number of different directions here. The good news is they might be in the position to take the thirdbest non-quarterback with the Browns, Giants and Broncos all drafting ahead of them and in the quarterback market.
“They are all critical,” Jets coach Todd Bowles said in January of what positions the team needs to fill. “It’s not just the quarterback position that we have to solidify. It’s D-line, O-line, receivers, backs. We need quite a few people at certain positions, or guys to play better or come off of injury. Picking the guys to add to this team this offseason, whether it’s [a] free agent or [through the] draft, it is going to be critical.”
The Jets could target a pass rusher, a cornerback, an offensive lineman or a running back early in the draft. Those are all major areas of need for them.
Another order of business the Jets will hit this week is speaking with the agents for their own players who are scheduled to hit free agency. Demario Davis, Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Morris Claiborne and Chandler Catanzaro are all prospective free agents the Jets would like to bring back at the right price.
The Jets also are expected to cut defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson and running back Matt Forte any day now. Those two cuts will push the Jets’ salary cap space over $90 million. They could make those moves while in Indianapolis. Last year, they told Darrelle Revis and Brandon Marshall they were being released during the combine.
This is a critical offseason for the Jets, who tore down their roster last year. The rebuilding process begins in full this week. brian.costello@nypost.com