Jet shock over Harris still lingers
WOODY Johnson’s decision to unceremoniously dump respected veteran linebacker David Harris last week predictably wasn’t the most popular move in the Jets locker room. The owner’s desire to shed payroll in this rebuilding season prompted Johnson to deliver a directive that led to Harris’ ouster last week. (Eric Decker was the other half of the cost-cutting measures).
“It shocked the s--t out of me,” defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson told the Daily News of the choice to cut Harris. “It is a business. But after a while it don’t become a business. Dave wasn’t (greedy). I know him, so I know he would have taken something (a fair and reasonable pay cut). I know he wasn’t busting nobody over there. He don’t want to play for free, either.”
Harris was a positive force on the field and in the locker room for 10 seasons, the embodiment of a player who did things “the right way.” Then, he was discarded like an undrafted free agent in June before the team released a perfunctory statement from the owner waxing poetic about the player whom he had just screwed over.
“It’s like, ‘Come on, man,” Richardson said. “He started here 10 years strong. He’s been here every day. He’s a true pro. It’s the front office, bruh. It was shocking. And he’s THE leader of the defense. He’s my quarterback of the defense.”
The bottom-line truth: general manager Mike Maccagnan carried out what his boss wanted. Johnson’s desire to save more than $13 million in payroll is understandable, but the timing was inexcusable. Waiting months after free agency to cut Harris and Decker was bush league.
Although Richardson conceded that Harris “only had one flaw: He struggled covering the angle routes coming out of the backfield,” there’s little doubt that the 33-year-old linebacker was still effective and valuable enough to be a starter for this team this season.
“I miss him,” second-year linebacker Darron Lee said. “He’s a great mentor and a great leader. I’m still going to consult him. Even though he won’t be around here, I’m still going to ask him for advice and everything. But definitely (it) was a somber day the next day and for the whole defense, really, and for this whole organization and for everybody in here. because Dave was like a dad to all of us, a lot of young guys in here. He was like a father to me.”
— With Daniel Popper