No Moore to the story
Jets’ LaFleur downplays ‘blowup’ with receiver, says team focusing on Patriots
Mike LaFleur stopped short of pulling out a dictionary as he downplayed the incident that preceded Elijah Moore’s trade request and benching. One week after what was described as an argument between LaFleur, the Jets’ offensive coordinator, and the disgruntled receiver, LaFleur was asked about it for the first time and initially claimed not to “totally know what you’re talking about.” He quickly conceded that he was aware of reports he and Moore had clashed behind closed doors. “I heard there was some sort of blowup,” LaFleur said before practice Thursday. “The only thing I’ll say is that’s 100 percent inaccurate. There was a conversation, obviously. I’m not going to get into the conversation. We’re going to keep that in-house, like we should. But there was 100 percent no blowup.” Argument. Heated exchange. Blowup. “Tough conversation,” as LaFleur said he has with all players. Regardless of semantics, Moore was sent home from the facility on Oct. 20 and was left behind for the trip to Denver, where the Jets beat the Broncos. But the hatchet appeared to be buried when LaFleur and Moore hugged in front of the cameras Wednesday at the start of practice.
“It’s good to have him back in the building. I know he’s happy to be back and he’s ready to go,” LaFleur said. “We’re all on the same page with everything. We’re just trying to move forward. We have a tough opponent in New England. I know that’s where his focus is, getting himself prepared. And that’s where my focus is.”
Moore, who is third among Jets wideouts and fifth among all pass-catchers with 29 targets, is expected to play Sunday. He has not yet publicly addressed his wish to be dealt, which was the boiling point after he initially griped on Twitter about getting zero targets in the Jets’ third of what are now four straight wins.
“Communication is the key to everything,” LaFleur said. “It’s kind of a corny saying, but where communication lacks, negativity fills the void. You always try to keep it real with all these guys. … If you can’t keep it real with each other, then bad things happen. You pride yourself on being truthful and having relationships with these guys. We’re going to continue to do that.”
After playing 26.1 percent of his snaps in the slot last season, Moore was bumped more to the perimeter (19.6 percent in the slot) to make room for rookie Garrett Wilson. Could that change? “A lot of what we’ve seen the last few weeks is [defenses] packed inside the numbers [so] you are forced to play a little more outside, or find different ways to get guys in position to be successful,” LaFleur said. “Everything will always be on the table. In this system, there is no slot guy, inside guy, outside guy. You can move people around.”
Head coach Robert Saleh has remained steadfast that Moore is not available via trade. But the Giants’ acquisition of third- and sixth-round draft picks for Kadarius Toney (also a second-year pro, but who has played in just 12 of 24 games with no touchdowns) makes a case that Moore’s value on the market could be startlingly high given his production (59 catches for 741 yards and five touchdowns in 17 games) if the Jets reverse course.