Dustin Keller Looking for New Deal, None to Be Found

Jun 7, 2012; Florham Park, NJ, USA; New York Jets tight end Dustin Keller (81) during the New York Jets organized team activities at the Atlantic Health Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-US PRESSWIRE

The Jets have made previous habit of extending the contract of young, core players, such as Nick Mangold, Darrelle Revis, and David Harris.

Dustin Keller feels he is one of these core players. After all, he is the only weapon that Mark Sanchez has had for his entire career. Thus, Keller has been seeking a contract extension, but the Jets have not offered one. Nor have the talks gotten very far yet. And he is a little frustrated by waiting.

“Obviously, I’d like to be one of those core guys that they consider that’s going to help the team win and be part of that,” Keller said tonight at his bowling tournament to benefit three charities, including his Dustin Keller Foundation. “I feel I am, but still you want to get that contract done. That pretty much makes it official.”

He feels that he has put in the work for a long term deal (he will make a little more than $3 million this year), and doesn’t really enjoy waiting, but understands it:

“But it’s part of the game,” he said. “I still have a year left on my contract, and regardless of what happens, we’re going to play out that contract. But obviously the ideal situation would be for me to get an extension.”

Obviously, he is aware of the extension Rob Gronkowski received with 2 years remaining on his deal. He wouldn’t say whether or not he felt this should influence his negotiations, but he is happy for the Gronk.

Dustin feels that he is a leader for both his team and the community, and tries to show this in all he does:

“I definitely have tried to be that guy,” he said. “I’ve tried to be a leader on and off the field, and I’m going to continue to do whatever I can to make that happen. But at the end of the day, if they want to extend me they will; if they don’t, that’s what happens.”

Keller’s production has increased every year, to the point where he led the team in catches in 2011. He also, as mentioned before, has been Mark Sanchez’s only receiving weapon to be here his whole career. He alluded to that when discussing his situation with Jenny Vrentas:

“His weapons are always changing, and I think that makes it tough on him,” Keller said. “You want to have a constant, somebody that has been there and done that, and you know how to go through all of it together. So I think that would be an ideal situation.”

Dustin Keller deserves a new deal, yesterday. You could make the argument that he deserves the extension before Revis.

For one, he has not made any noise about his rookie deal, until now. He has been a good soldier for this New York Jets team. As we mentioned before, his production has steadily increased every year since his rookie season until 2011 when he led the team in receiving.

He clearly has put in the work, and he should be rewarded for it.

Also, there is a lot of validity in the argument about the changing weapons surrounding Mark Sanchez. The argument has been made on this website (by me), that the Jets have been setting Mark Sanchez up to fail. Some evidence is there, and that is the constant changing of Mark’s weapons. This cannot instill confidence in your QB. The Jets would do a lot in injecting Mark some confidence by inking his safety net to a long term deal.

Listen up Jets. Get Dustin Keller done now. Even if it ticks Revis off, it’s time to do it.

Do you agree?  Take a look at this piece by clicking here, where Chris Gross of turnonthejets.com takes a look at why he believes the Jets should wait on giving Dustin an extension.  What do you guys think?