You are 100% right on this one. Baker should have gotten a raise a long time ago and they give a 2 year Guarantee a 30 year old receiver who is one hit away from wearing a diaper! They don't sign Kendall for 1 Mil and end up spending 40 Million for one guy and have no depth to speak of on the line.
Why should Baker get a raise? He's the 19th best TE in the league, and gets paid top 10 money. He's making the same amount as a guy that has actually done something in Bubba Franks. As to the original post, no, the FO is not going to get a bad rap for this. When asked about Kendall, most players with half a brain will know he's bitched wherever he goes. When asked about Coles, most players with half a brain will know he's bitched wherever he goes. When asked about Baker, most players with half a brain will say "who?"
The reason that people will say Who about Baker is because he has had Air Chad to throw to him since he was drafted. Baker is better than his stats as well as Cotchery.
Does Florio over at PFT read Gang Green? He just posted a long missive on this exact topic in the Rumor Mill.
Bitch bitch bitch. Kendall was a cancer...isn't that why Arizona booted him? Coles, yep, like someone said earlier, he wants to renegotiate every 2 years. He certainly isn't a #1 but he does play with heart and takes some shots -- a result of him jumping in the air 1/2 the time to catch a ball. Baker needs to STFU. Bubba might make more (1 yr deal), but who has a better chance of being on the roster not only come opening day '08 but also '09, Baker or Franks? I get it. A front office can cut the player and the contract is not guaranteed but enough's enough of the Coles, Ocho Cincos out there. So, I don't think we'll get a bad rap. The bulk of the Jets are either playmakers and are being paid accordingly, or young enough to the team/Tangini system to know to keep quiet and their heads down.
Did Baker not sign this deal? Is he not in the 3rd year of a four year deal playing him 6.6 million? He signed the deal. It was clearly front loaded. So bitch at your agent. He made his money, and now, coming into the back end that pays him less, he is bitching. How about a little recoginition that the jets gave you a 4 year, 6.6 million dollar deal off an 18 catch year? I am so tired of guys wanted to rip up contracts with 2 years to go. Baker has a decent (at best) year, suddenly realizes his contract was front loaded, and he wants more. YOU SIGNED THE DEAL. Didn't see it was front loaded? Too bad. Now you are gonna say what, the jets agreed when you signed the deal they would rework it based on performance with 2 years left? I find that hard to believe. Kendall set a bad precedent when he bitched with 2 years left. Jet players see it, see that the jets held their ground and then couldn't fill the position, and disaster ensued on the OL. They now feel they can do the same thing, with the same results. Well, Chris, we signed a solid vet in Franks, and drafted a potentially better receiving tight end in Keller. Sorry. Shut up and play.
If Baker isn't careful he will be a #3 TE for the next 2 years. Then when he is a FA his value will be exactly what it was when he was a FA 2 years ago. 0 That's the number of teams that offered him a contract two years ago when he was a FA. He signed the contract with $800,000 of new money in it in Nov of 07. They aren't going to trade, or cut him. Why should they? They already paid him last year. Coles had some leverage, he is a team leader, and has produced. Baker has none, Play ball, or sit the bench
Do players trust the Jets (from PFT) It?s the third year of the Eric Mangini-Mike Tannenbaum association in New York, and there now have been three veteran players who publicly have expressed dissatisfaction with their treatment. First it was guard Pete Kendall. Next, receiver Laveranues Coles. The third man up is tight end Chris Baker. But in each case there?s been something more than mere unhappiness projected. Each guy has claimed that promises were made, and that said promises ultimately were not honored. ?I?m angry about the fact that they said, ?We?re going to do something for you,? and nothing?s being done,? Baker recently said, according to the New York Post. ?It doesn?t make any sense. I?ve been here six years and I?ve always done what they?ve asked me to do.? And so the deeper question, in our assessment, is whether the players think they can trust the team. Three of them clearly don?t; two of them are still in the locker room. Apparently, the organization made each of these guys believe that something was going to be done for them, and each of them decided that the organization failed to come through. So what?s happening in New York? Is the left hand making promising checks that the right hand won?t write? Or are players misunderstanding casual comments like ?you?re our guy? as commitments to increase their pay? The problem has been amplified by the fact that the Jets spent money in free agency like guys who would naturally be inclined to spend money and who have recently ingested a beverage or a substance that might impair their judgment to a certain degree (there?s got to be a simpler analogy for that). The splurge came only a year after Tannenbaum cautioned that ?there are consequences? to shelling out huge dollars to veterans who have never played a single down with the team. The money spent on strangers to the team is only making things worse. In this specific case, it forced the Jets to trade back into the first round and (arguably) reach for tight end Dustin Keller, another guy who?ll get a nice pile of money despite never wearing a Jets helmet in his life. We?re not sure how deep this river runs, but we can?t think of any other NFL franchise that has had three players call the franchise out as dishonest over the course of three decades; the fact that the Jets have had three in less than three seasons is troubling, to say the least.
Pete Kendall has been a malcontent his entire career, and Baker is over rated by himself... wanting to get paid more for catching 41 balls in a season... are you for real. Thats what your supposed to do... and as far as him making on 683,000 this year... his cap # is higher than Bubba Franks, which equates to him being paid as the starter, not to mention he was given more money in December of this past year... Coles... coles has always been a money guy at one point the highest paid reciever in the game... but he produces, so there was no big deal in making his 11 mil over the next 2 seasons guaranteed... but he's another one that whines a lot. Somehow, I doubt it's the F/O
Kendall's a cry baby, Coles got his new deal, and Baker is going down the same road as Kendall. Players ask for new contracts all the time, on every team in the league. What the Jets are going through is no different than Chicago and Briggs and Urlacher.
