Mac attacks, & can’t fumble on QB pick QB pick
Mike Maccagnan’s reputation, dream job and standing in the NFL universe are now officially on the line after he jolted the Jets landscape with a blockbuster trade with the Colts on St. Patrick’s Day. Hey, no pressure. The general manager’s seismic decision to move up from the No. 6 to the No. 3 pick for a franchise quarterback in next month’s draft will turn him into a god or a bum. He’ll be lauded or lampooned, praised or mocked, canonized or F-bombed depending on whether he selects the right signal-caller.
It’s brilliant theater for a franchise that has gone sideways since we took one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind.
Maccagnan, the plodding dyed-in-the-wool scout, finally put his well-traveled foot on the accelerator by making an aggressive move to jump up to secure one of the top quarterbacks in this class. There’s no turning back now: Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, Josh Allen or Baker Mayfield with be a Jet in exactly 41 days (April 26).
Maccagnan parted with precious draft capital — two second-round picks this year (Nos. 37 and 49) and a 2019 second-rounder — but it simply had to be done. The Jets might have technically “overpaid” to slide up three spots, based on the league’s draft value points system, but don’t pay much attention to this deal on paper. The value chart doesn’t factor in real-life dynamics at play.
The Jets were competing with other quarterback-needy teams vying to better position themselves in the coming weeks. Put simply, the final compensation won’t matter much for Maccagnan. If he finds an answer to the Jets’ half-century-old problem, nobody will care about what he traded away. If he whiffs, he won’t care about the compensation, because he’ll be fired.
The Jets, frankly, deserve credit for their preparation. The powers that be started gauging the trade market with teams ahead of them in the draft as early as January during Senior Bowl week in Mobile, according to sources. The Jets had a feel for what it would take to make a move to better position themselves for a potential franchise quarterback. Bottom line: It was a strategically sound move.
The top priority always was to sign free agent Kirk Cousins, but Maccagnan & Co. were determined not to be lost if that didn’t happen.
This past week provided plenty of angst, frustration, disappointment, anger and disgust for the Jets amid the Cousins drama, according to people on One Jets Drive. The Jets clung to hope that Cousins would be wearing green and white before they realized that it was never going to happen. They gave Cousins’ camp a Tuesday morning deadline to give them a firm answer, according to sources. (Real talk: Gang Green should have given that deadline days earlier).
When the coveted veteran quarterback chose the Vikings, the Jets quickly pivoted to Plan B, which included signing Josh McCown and Teddy Bridgewater to one-year deals and hammering out a trade to move up for a quarterback in the draft. The Colts and Jets engaged in serious discussions the past few days, according to sources.
The deal happened fast because the Jets, who also inquired about trading up with the Browns for the No. 1 overall pick, according to sources, were prepared. The groundwork set in Mobile in January gave them a good starting point in discussions after Cousins was no longer an option.
Maccagnan’s and Todd Bowles’ derrieres are on the line here. Did you really think that they wouldn’t have a firm plan
of action if Cousins spurned them?
Maccagnan’s reluctance to part with draft capital was a real concern for some folks on One Jets Drive. His penchant for collecting picks is understandable given his scouting background, but this regime had reached a watershed moment regardless of the general manager and head coach’s recent two-year contract extensions through 2020.
The Jets needed a franchise quarterback via free agency or the draft. That was non-negotiable. The Bryce Petty Experiment died in Week 17 in Foxborough. When Bridgewater proves that he is indeed healthy, the Christian Hackenberg Experience will officially end too. Petty and Hackenberg were dead men walking from the moment the 2017 season ended, as the Daily News reported shortly after the season finale in Foxborough. his Jets regime is at a critical and delicate stage. They’ve given up three premium-round picks to take their crack at solving the franchise’s most maddening problem.
Maccagnan never had a lifetime appointment. Ownership has given him an opportunity to make this right. It’s time to get the quarterback. Everything is riding on this pick. Heroes and clowns are made in these moments.
@MMehtaNYDN
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