$100 MILLION QUESTION
WE have not even reached Thanksgiving and Jets fans are already dreaming of March.
It is a tradition they have grown accustomed to — this year stinks, but we’ll get them in the offseason!
As miserable a season as this has been, their fans keep pointing to the money they can spend this offseason in free agency. The Jets are expected to have nearly $100 million in salary-cap space and the Johnson brothers will be motivated to spend after eight straight years without a playoff berth.
A few weeks ago, general manager Mike Maccagnan vowed the Jets will be “very active” in free agency.
“We have a lot of things in place that with a successful offseason we can actually put ourselves in a position — with cap space and cash in free agency, along with our draft picks — in our mind to really springboard this thing forward,” Maccagnan said.
Here’s the thing, though, throwing around big money in free agency rarely fixes a football team. The best teams have gotten there through good draft classes and by supplementing with some free-agent signings.
Free agents are free agents for a reason. Their former team de- cided they were not worth the investment for some reason. Sometimes it’s age, sometimes it’s health or it’s a drop in production.
Then, other teams line up to spend wildly on players who have been tossed aside by their teams, who theoretically know them best.
So, Jets fans counting on a spending spree that will fix this roster are probably dreaming.
Let’s look at this year’s free-agent crop and how that spending has gone. Using Pro Football Talk’s top free-agent list from last spring, I looked at the top 10 free agents who changed teams.
There is not one you could point to and say that was a homerun signing. Kirk Cousins has been pretty good for the Vikings, but has he lived up to $84 million? The Jaguars threw $65.5 million at guard Andrew Norwell and he has been underwhelming. Case Keenum got $36 million from the Broncos and has thrown 10 interceptions. Allen Robinson has two touchdowns for the Bears after signing a three-year, $42 million deal.
How do Jets fans feel about $72 million man Trumaine Johnson after he gave up a 47-yard pass on the first play of the game Sunday? It could be worse for the Jets. They could have signed Malcolm Butler like the Titans did for $61 million over five years. He is currently rated the 96th-best cornerback in football by Pro Football Focus. Giants fans want to chime in on how $62 million tackle Nate Solder has played so far? About the only deals that look OK are the short-term, lower-risk signings such as Ndamukong Suh (1 year, $14 million) with the Rams, Sheldon Richardson (1 year, $8 million) with the Vikings and Richard Sherman (3 years, $39 million) with the 49ers.
There are Jets fans who question whether Maccagnan should be fired at the end of the season because of his spotty record as GM and because they say he can’t be trusted to spend wisely this offseason. I disagree and believe he deserves the chance to see his rebuilding plan through next year.
But Maccagnan must not view free agency as a quick fix. The Jets have too many holes to fill to believe free agency will fix everything. Maccagnan has been better at finding value in second-tier free agents (Avery Williamson, Isaiah Crowell, James Carpenter) than he has at the premium free agents.
This year’s freeagent class is underwhelming outside of one name — Le’Veon Bell. The Steelers running back is intriguing and the Jets, in desperate need of a playmaker, surely will bid on Bell. Maccagnan should chase Bell and then spread the rest of the money around on rebuilding the offensive line and finding some other complementary pieces. He may have to swing a trade for a wide receiver because there are not many interesting ones in free agency or the draft.
The Johnsons are going to hand Maccagnan a big wad of money to spend in March. It will be fun to discuss and dissect what the Jets will do, but big money spent in the winter rarely translates to big wins in the fall.