His salary is $3,000,000 this year and next. I don't see him on the team at that number. Maybe he takes a paycut, but if not he's gone. JMO
LOL...that totally went over my head. ha yeah that is true and if we are to clear some cap space he would certainly be the one. But he could play a nice role and with 2 new safeties he could be pretty helpful in bringing them along and as an insurance policy.
The Jets signed 2 free agent safteys and drafted 3 safteys so I'm thinking maybe they weren't too happy with Eric Smiths play back there. Bye bye Eric or take the 2 million paycut. That scenario is gonna be on his table real soon.
He's the only safety that's already played in the system. Bell played in a similar one under Mike Nolan, and has been making secondary calls from what I've heard, but no way Smith should be cut. If he sees less time on D he'll play more ST where he's a solid player.
Eric Smith single-handily lost us games last year. He is one of the worst players I've ever seen wear a jets uniform. Bringing him back would be disaster.
Eric Smith is a quality backup, however. He's not the best in coverage but he's great at laying the wood, and knows the signal calling. With increased pass rush and Landry, our safety and defense as a whole should be better. We should hold on to Smith, but if he could be a trade piece for another RT or MJD (doubtful) he should be expendable.
for a RT yes...but i doubt E. Smith would be the missing piece to tip the Jags over the edge. I'd honestly only trade him if its for a position of need like RT or WR.
Bell and Landry are total questions marks, and if Allen and Bush were ready to play at this level then they wouldn't have lasted until the 6th round. Smith is an abomination in coverage, but he's a useful depth player. I'd be shocked if he gets cut. As an aside, I really wish we had signed Reggie Nelson.
Why are Bell and Landry question marks? Landry is a good safety with health problems so do you mean you don't think he can stay on the field? Because when he's on the field he's one of the better SS in the league. Bell is old and reliable but I'd rather him be a 3rd safety. Still I think we have upgraded the safety position this year for sure.
It's one week till cut down day. The time to decide on Smith IS RIGHT NOW. The trade talk you guys yap about is a non starter. No one is trading for an injured back up safety due 2MIL in guaranteed salary. The question on Smith is do you cut him next week and save the money which you can possibly strategically deploy elsewhere. It frees up money for a decent RT or WR who may shake free at cut down day and still have the original 6MIL or more in cap space which can be rolled into next year. Management has to make a judgement call on whether Allen or Bush can step into the 3rd safety role Smith fills and give them similar production at a much cheaper rate. I say given cap space, Smith's salary, his health status and the development status of Allen that it is a gamble worth taking to cut Smith before his money is guaranteed.
The Jets could argue that Smith was a starter last year and has experience running one of the best secondaries in the league. I think that beyond Jets fans, he's isn't criticized nearly as harsh by others and he could be a critical piece to somebody's safety unit. He does have value.
He's good stopping the run game and in the 4-6. He's kind of a LB safety hybrid. As a coverage safety he is absolutely terrible though. He was abused by TEs last year.
No way the guy gets cut. He's valuable on ST and as a back-up S. I hate Eric Smith's coverage skills as much as the next guy, but right now is not the time to cut him considering there would be no experience in the secondary behind Landry and Bell. I could definitely see him getting cut next offseason when Bush and Allen have a season under their belts, but not now, bad time.
