NY Jets: Marcus Maye’s agent calls out the team on social media

The NY Jets will have a decision to make regarding the future of safety Marcus Maye this offseason. And based on recent interactions, it seems as though that decision may have already been made.

Maye’s agent, Erik Burkhardt, took to Twitter on Tuesday night to bash the Jets calling them out for “[refusing] to take care of their best player” and even took a shot at them for the Jamal Adams situation a year ago.

Maye, who is scheduled to be a free agent this offseason, will likely be looking for a long-term extension. But the Jets don’t seem prepared to meet his wishes.

Instead, it’s been heavily rumored that the Jets will place the franchise tag on their standout safety pushing the extension back a year. Evidently, Maye and his agency aren’t too happy about that.

https://twitter.com/ErikBurkhardt/status/1366941735079849987

Marcus Maye has a reason to be mad with the NY Jets

Maye and his agency should be mad. The franchise tag is criminally unfair to players, but as long as it exists, teams are going to use it.

For the Jets, this move makes a ton of sense.

The shrinkage of the salary cap this offseason means that the franchise tag figures have also shrunk. Normally, a player receiving the tag would rank in the top-five at their position in terms of salary.

But with the tag number for a safety sitting at just $11.2 million, Maye’s salary would only rank sixth or seventh in the NFL. It’s very likely that Maye would be asking for more money on a per-year basis if he were to sign a long-term extension.

Rightfully so — he’s earned it. But the Jets are also making what they feel is the smart move — because it is.

The Jets can tag Maye this offseason and push extension talks back a year. If he plays as well as he did in 2020, you’d have to think they’d be open to discussing a long-term deal. But if he regresses, they might not hesitate to move on from a 29-year-old safety.

This is why Maye and his agent are mad. The tag strips them of any long-term security and will likely result in him making less money than he should be making. To put it bluntly, this sucks for Maye.

That said, you can’t stop the Jets from making the smart business move. As long as the franchise tag remains an option, teams are going to use it.

That’s just the unfortunate reality for players and agents alike.