NY Jets re-signing Brian Poole is a home run move by Joe Douglas

The NY Jets are bringing back veteran cornerback Brian Poole thanks to GM Joe Douglas. Here are the details and why this is a home run move for Gang Green.

Finally, the NY Jets are taking care of one of their own.

On Wednesday afternoon Adam Schefter of ESPN reported that the Jets are re-signing veteran cornerback Brian Poole.

Heading into the offseason the Jets had over 20 pending in-house free agents. Despite the season ending back in early January, there wasn’t much conversation about bringing anyone back, at least publically.

Once free agency unofficially started on Monday, March 16 with the legal tampering period at noon, it was unclear whether the Jets would be able to retain Brian Poole.

That got even murkier over the last 48 hours with all the ridiculous money being thrown at the cornerbacks on the open market:

• Byron Jones to the Miami Dolphins on a five-year deal for $82 million with $54.5 million fully guaranteed.
• Trae Waynes to the Cincinnati Bengals on a three-year deal for $42 million.
• Bradley Roby to the Houston Texans on a three-year deal for $36 million.
• James Bradberry to the NY Giants on a three-year deal for $45 million with $32 million guaranteed.

Despite that funny money floating around, somehow someway general manager Joe Douglas was able to retain Brian Poole on another cheap one-year deal for $5 million, per Connor Hughes of The Athletic.

The entire deal is fully guaranteed and ranks him 43rd among cornerbacks in annual salary, per Spotrac.

The Jets Zone w/ @BoyGreen25 feat @RichCimini:– Fact or fiction on #TakeFlight free agency rumors.– Which FAs #Jets are trying to re-sign ahead of next week.– Joe Douglas, Ozzie Newsome relationship details.– Latest on Quinnen Williams.– Tom Brady?!https://t.co/yWFRXUrPzb

— The Jets Zone (@TheJets_Zone) March 12, 2020

Poole initially took a one-year flier ($3.5 million) with the NY Jets after a so-so three-year career with the Atlanta Falcons. Brian more than lived up to his contract with the green and white.

But just how good was he?

Here’s a look at his shutdown 2019 season thanks to the folks over at Jet X:

• Yards per cover snap: 0.57
• Yards per target: 4.6
• Yards per reception: 7.8
• Yards per game: 16.9
• Air yards per reception: 3.3
• Cover snaps per target: 8.2

The fact that the NY Jets were able to re-sign Brian Poole is a huge reason for celebration among the fan-base. When you consider the team not only retained one of their best pending free agents, but did it at an insane discount, you have to give a tremendous amount of credit to general manager Joe Douglas who hit an absolute home run here.

Now Gang Green has locked down their slot corner position with one of the best in the NFL. There’s still much work to be done, but this was a phenomenal move by the Jets.