How the Jets have devalued their assets
By William Bologna
The 2017 offseason was full of moves for the New York Jets. Here’s how Mike Maccagnan played the cards wrong, devaluing his assets.
The New York Jets have been making moves left and right this offseason. They’ve completely reconstructed their roster with youth in mind through a series of trades and cuts. In such a case, certain players become expendable. General manager Mike Maccagnan showed a bad poker face by devaluing some of the Jets former assets.
Adams and Maye draft picks destroyed Pryor’s trade value
When the Jets selected two safeties in the first two rounds, it became clear that Calvin Pryor was expendable. This was clear to the Jets, their fans and fellow NFL teams alike. These selections showed NFL general managers that the Jets didn’t place much value in Pryor. While he may have failed to reach his potential, he was still a first round pick. The smart move would have been trading Pryor before or even during the draft. But instead, the Jets showed their hand by drafting Adams and Maye before showing Pryor the door. Adams and Maye definitely make the team better, but the Jets should’ve shopped Pryor in advance.
Jets show their hand again with Decker
The Jets publicly announced that they were looking to trade Eric Decker, but said they would release him if they couldn’t strike a deal. In other words, they told other general managers “we’d like to trade him, but you can sign him as a free agent if you don’t offer us anything.”
Sure enough, the Jets were unable to strike a deal, thus releasing Decker for nothing in return. Granted, the market for a 30-year old receiver coming off two injuries may not be outstanding, Decker is still worth a late-round pick at the very least.
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Thus far, Maccagnan has looked alright, certainly better than Idzik. He’s made some good draft picks and a few not so good picks, or at least picks that don’t look great so far (such as Christian Hackenberg in Round 2).
Though he has dedicated to a youth movement as well as a “build through the draft” mentality.
Although, for Maccagnan, in order to succeed, he will need to show a better poker face when it comes to players who will be traded.
If you let everyone know you don’t value an asset, potential trade suitors will not value said asset either. 2017 may not look very promising to the Jets, although the following offseason could be crucial to Maccagnan’s job security. In order to succeed, Maccagnan will need to show a better poker face. He must also learn to bluff a little, this way he will not be devaluing assets on the trade market.