He definitely was earlier in his career, now I'm not so sure. Even so, that's not all there is to it. There's blocking, being good in the lockerroom, and not being a cancer demanding the ball as TO would. Sorry, but you're being entirely too mercenary and unrealistic about this. It's been proven time and again that just trying to field an All-Star team doesn't work. Football is a team game. There has to be a sense of comraderie and players working together, not for their own selfish ends.
Again, my point isn't that I want TO, but he is surely still better than Cotch. My point is that we could get a better receiver for less money. Didn't the Jets pretty much try and build an all-star team last year? I'm sure the team would survive fine without Cotchery. ... I just don't think it's as crazy as you guys are making it to considering cutting a slot receiver taking up almost $4MM in cap space. They could probably cut him and sign him back for half that if this report is true.
40+ rec, 400+ yards. Cotchery is a good player. But if we are to bring back Holmes and Edwards, Cotchery doesn't warrant a $4mil contract looking at it from the business perspective. I like Cotchery. He's a very good overall player that doesn't complain about anything. But He's not an ideal fit in our scheme if Holmes and Ed are back. I don't want to see Cotchery gone. I'd rather release him and sign him right back on a cheaper deal if possible.
C'mon man, you're smarter than this. I'm still wondering if you're just trolling or screwing around. Cotch is a slot receiver on OUR team. On ANY other team he is the #2 guy. He can easily be the #2 on this team again, if not the #1 as he has shown he could be in the past. He knows the offense and can play any of the receiver positions. He is also a good punt returner, not to mention he has many years left in the tank. Please explain how TO improves the team by taking his roster spot. I am all ears.
Forget I even mentioned TO, I don't want him, I'm trying to make the point that we could better spend that $4MM in cap space. We could pickup a guy like Chansi Stuckey to play slot receiver for probably less than $1MM a year. We have other guys that can return punts. Yes he's a slot receiver on our team and we're a run heavy team. Do we really want to put $4MM in cap space towards a slot receiver position if we have the option? Maybe the saved money could help bring in a pass rusher.
It's all about relative value. He is worth his contract or more on another team. You could not cut and sign him for half. He would make more than he is now on the open market, easily. Look at our depth after him... Other teams have #4 and #5 guys making plays. We have a non-WR in the #4 spot and lord knows what in the #5 spot. When you have a legit starter playing in the slot it creates mismatches, either getting a LB on him (LOL) or getting single coverage on one of your top 2 guys. His contract should be the least of the Jets worries. Bart Scott is the guy that needs to restructure or GTFO. You want to talk about overpaid (and I like Scott)?
If you just said we could just bring in Stuckey to replace what Cotch does for this team... I know you're just screwing around.
Is Stuckey as good as Cotchery? Of course not. Do we need a #2 receiver playing slot when we're a run heavy team? Of course not. edit: Cotch didn't really adjust too well to the slot role anyway judging by all his uncharacteristic drops.
If Edwards or Holmes (assuming we have both) go down, do you want a Stuckey starting or a Cotch starting? Do you honestly believe that we are going to remain a run heavy team as Sanchez progresses? Hell, would we be signing Edwards AND Holmes if that were the case? Cotch could make more elsewhere, which means we are getting a deal. He has been underpaid for years anyways.
Of course I'd rather have Cotchery than Stuckey or <insert late round receiver here>. It's just a place we could save cap space that I don't think would have that big of an impact considering the type of offense Rex likes. I don't see us ever being a pass heavy team with Rex as the coach, but we'll probably pass more as Nacho progresses. I would expect Nacho to make his receivers better as he progresses too. I'd rather spend the money on the two 1a and 1b receivers for #1 and #2 because they'll be way more involved than #3.
You seem like a really good guy and I know you're just wanting to improve the team, so I won't say anything else about it after this post. It's obvious we're just going to have to agree to disagree on this point. The problems with that scenario as I see it are this: 1. If Cotchery is released, the Jets won't be able to re-sign him until the new CBA is in place. They gain absolutely nothing now by cutting him, and take a real risk in losing him. I definitely think another team (St. Louis for starters) would be willing to pay more than the Jets to get him. 2. I'm not convinced this is a "run-heavy" team, but even if it is, why do the Jets need to keep both Edwards and Holmes? That's a luxury for a run-heavy team. If the Jets are really going to be a run heavy team, then they could let Holmes walk (or Edwards), use Cotchery as the #2, sign Stuckey as the slot WR, and take a WR in the middle rounds of the draft. They'd still have Keller, Tomlinson and probably McKnight and Cumberland as other receiving options. That's more than enough targets for a "run-heavy" team. 3. As fenwyr said, depth is a concern even now. Injuries happen. Either Holmes and/or Edwards could wind up getting suspended. Where would the Jets be then with Cotchery gone, and only Stuckey, a rookie WR, plus Tomlinson, Keller and Cumberland as receivers??? 4. I know you don't like TO, but you were missing the main point. I think there's a good chance a number of the Jets players revolt if not walk when their contract is up regardless of who is signed to replace him, if the Jets continue treating their long-time players like they did last year. I think they are closely watching how the Jets treat Ellis and Cotchery. From that vantage point alone, dumping Cotchery to keep Edwards or Holmes, or to bring in yet another guy who's never played a down for the team would royally piss them off. IMO it's just not worth taking a chance on destroying the since of unity and "family" that the Jets have created. 5. If there was a top pass-rushing or DE prospect out there in FA that the Jets could realistically sign, I'd be willing to consider dumping Cotchery in order to sign the guy. The problem is, there isn't. All the guys that begin to fit those roles have been franchised. Who do you have in mind? 6. Cotchery makes a lot of big plays for this team, especially at critical points in games. Would the other guys be able to pick up that slack? Possibly. Holmes or Keller could just drop more passes in those situations. Stuckey could get hit and fumble the ball away. 7. Last season was an aberration for Cotchery. I'm not worried about his not bouncing back. We don't know what was going on in his personal life, or he may have had some injury that wasn't reported, or maybe he was thinking too much adjusting to the slot position. 8. Cotchery is a good blocking WR. Take him away and replace him with Stuckey or someone else who might not be as good a blocker and the run game could suffer.
I don't know... If we just cut every guy that we've had at a bargain price for years, I think it would really mess with the locker room. I also guess we just have different opinions about what the impact of him not being on the field would bring. He knows the offense inside and out, is (usually) clutch in key situations... I would sooner cut (or restructure) Scott and use that money on an OLB. He suerved his purpose in helping install the defense, and would be easily replaceable, yet his cap hit is pretty huge. Again, I really like Scott and want him on this team until he hangs them up, but if we're talking about people to replace, I can think of several starters that could save us money, with less of an inpact to the team, than Cotch. Our entire LB corps (save Harris) and safeties come to mind...
I don't know why they couldn't but that would be a risk I'd be willing to take. We had all those guys last year and ran the ball more than everyone in the league but the Chiefs. My preference would be to get the better #1 and #2 guys and spend less on the #3 guy if we plan on continuing to be a run heavy team. Clearly we were in both of Rex's seasons, given we have a very young QB. Wouldn't you want to spend more on 2 guys who will be on the field twice as much? Sure that would be a concern. You could get someone better than Stuckey too (for less). This is a business and the players understand that. The Jets have taken care of many of there own over the past few years. Just the last year D'Brick, Mangold, Revis, Harris, and their are others before them. I didn't have anyone specific in mind, I was just using that position as an example of one where the money could be better spent than on a #3 WR. But hypothetically speaking, what if the $3MM helped us sign Cullen Jenkins (I know he'll demand much more)? Obviously he's going to demand big bucks, but if this situation is what it sounds like and the Jets leveraged it properly Tanny might be able to make some magic happen. Players would have to step up. We would be downgrading at #3 WR, I'm not arguing that. I agree it was an aberration. I'm a big fan of Cotchery. I do think him not being on the field all the time as the #3 WR probably hurt him. I'm not worried about the run game suffering because of a #3 WR. How often to we run with 3 WR's on the field?
Totally agree.i keep hearing rex say he's going to build a "all weather" team. to me thats a team that can run in the bad weather but also air it out against the dome teams. to that point i'd say we are a mature qb way from reaching that goal.i think that the offense is off limits as far as cuts go.
If it weren't such a fucked up year I'd be inclined to agree with WSW, but you'd have to cut Cotch to save the money without knowing anything about wether or not you can get Holmes back. If you save the $4 mill and still can't sign Holmes then we're up shit's creek, even if we keep Braylon. Plus I'd rather overpay Cotch this year so we don't have to waste picks on recievers and can fix the god damn front seven.
If it weren't such a fucked up year this wouldn't even be an option. And I'm still not sure I even believe the report as no one else has backed it. This is a massive hypothetical argument where I'm assuming we get Edwards and Holmes back.
