Trades for Thomas and Signed Papers for Sanchez?
Mike Lombardi over at National Football Post writes some interesting rumors he’s hearing about the Jets.
There’s talk that the Jets might consider a trade for running back Thomas Jones, which might make sense at some point in camp once they have a handle on Shonn Greene’s talents. Also, I hear the Jets are working extra hard to make sure first rounder Mark Sanchez is signed and ready for camp. They plan on making sure a deal is done earlier rather than later, although it might affect other players in the top seven. Doing a deal early isn’t always a good thing for the teams – just ask the Lions.
On Jones: Personally, just like I wanted Baker on the team last year to ease the transition for Dustin Keller, I’d like to see Jones still on the team in 2009, and Shonn Greene more as the fourth quarter pounder before the team uses him in a a full 20-30 carries-a-game slate … especially when you have a back who at a cheap price who last year averaged 4.5 YPC.
Should the team trade him? The team got what amounted to a third round pick for him back in 2007, and I can’t imagine that he’d net anything over a 5th rounder at this point, especially with the the way that the demand on draft picks has changed around the league since 2007. Add in the fact that there are plenty of aged running backs available by free agency, and I just can’t foresee a trade getting worked out.
On Sanchez: Upon arrival, Mark Sanchez made it abundantly clear that his intention is to not miss a single day of training camp. That they want to get the deal done before camp is a clear indication that the team is doing their best to keep their options open on who starts for the Jets opening day in Houston. The Jets don’t want a nagging contract issue to be the detail that held up his progress/success (see JaMarcus Russell, Matt Leinart, etc.). They’d clearly be willing to pay him a little more than normal to get him into camp and happy.
18 Responses to Trades for Thomas and Signed Papers for Sanchez?
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MSM says:
Keep Jones please. Lets just see what happens with Plax and go from there. At this point, Id rather have 3 rbs because it almsot forces the team to have to run the ball. Especially with a rookie QB, we dont want a WR demanding the ball. We should be playing run first, and Cotchery is certainly able enough to be the second option. I would much rather wait it out for Plax and not lose Jones, than trade Jones for Braylon for example. The running game will open up opportunities for our young WRs anyway and Keller can almost be considered a bigger, stronger, Boldin type reciever.
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mole57 says:
Anytime Lombardi cites his sources as “there’s talk” and closely follows it with “might consider” I pay no attention to it. Especially during the slowest NFL news cycle.
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RENTAL says:
Only a 5th for TJ?
The leading AFC rusher who is on the second half of a front-loaded contract? He would most certainly require a new deal, but i would say he is worth a 3, maybe a 4. Think about it… if you were a team with a RB need, wouldn’t you trade a 4 for TJ? Yes. A 3? Maybe/probably. -
Bent says: The Sanchez deal is going to be very tricky. Moreso than usual due to the different cap rules for 2009. The Jets will be very lucky to get him to camp in time, so if that is his primary motivation, we should be thankful.
The deal might not affect other players in the top seven. Matt Ryan’s deal was kind of an outlier. I think he got more than the number one pick due to being a QB. So if Sanchez gets his deal first, you can’t exactly expect the 4th pick to get slightly more and the 6th pick to get slightly less.
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If the Jets are still considering trading Jones then it means he was still an unhappy camper when he returned the other week. That is not a good sign. I just hope the Jets do not let it linger the way they did the Coles rumors in 2006 which went all the way until the opener when word was a Coles for Branch swap with NE.
I agree again with Bent that the Sanchez deal most likely does not hurt the top 7 negotiations for others. QBs are a different beast when it comes to money and usually it has little bearing on other deals. I think the Jets need to get Sanchez in on time, the question is how crazy do they go with the deal. Do they fight over escalator clauses and the like the way they did Darrelle Revis and Vernon Gholston or do they simply give in and do a relatively straightforward deal like the Lions did with Matt Stafford?
Part of the problem is that the Jets have little rookie pool room and that is going to seriously limit what Sanchez can earn this year and then the different cap rules limit what contractual guarantees they can actually give him. Because of that the Sanchez crew is probably going to want a significant amount of money frontloaded in the contract. With all the money on the books for 2010 I cant imagine anyway the Jets can absorb a big cap hit for Sanchez in year 2. That could be a major issue.
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Rental, the problem is there’s no market right now for a 30-year-old RB, even a guy coming off a very good year. Almost every team has their RB situation figured out, and almost no team has the cash and cap room it would take to bring Jones on board. I can’t see him being traded, but if he is, I doubt we get more than a 5th rounder.
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IRA says:
Can’t see them trading TJ for a pick. It would have to be for Edwards or another WR. Just watched the Broncos game on NFL Network yesterday and they need TJ for one more year. Even though they lost he played a great game. Greene needs time to develope his pass catching and blocking skills.
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jcjets says:
Makes no sense to Trade TJ..you can’t go with an unproven rookie! What if Greene gets hurt, or worse..what if Leon gets hurt?? And why would we trade him? he’s a steal at 900k for this year!
If anything, guarantee half/all his bonus for next year just to keep him happy.
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The only trade that makes sense is to Cleveland for Edwards. Just like the Sanchez deal saved us picks for players. Only Mangini would be willing to take a 30+ ( very good ) running back.
We would need to sweeten the deal but thats the only logical landing spot. Getting a 5th is useless to us right now. TJ is a starting RB with unknown players behind him. Not worth the risk unless getting a contributing player back.
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Its crazy how 30 is now washed up for a RB. Thats total BS..I wouldnt give him a new contract, but he’s far from being done.
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Vince says:
There is no reason for the Jets to trade him this year. He’s at camp now and even though he’s not happy he is practicing. If i remember correctly the Jets paid Jones a good amount of money his 1st 2 years but the money will drop off quiet a bit this year to something that was less than a million. Why would we trade a pro bowl running back that we can keep for less than a million?! Not to mention by Jones being in the back field he will make Sanchez better because of of all of our backs he can pick up the blitz the best.
I ask again why trade a pro bowl running back that we are paying less than a million to play? Mike T is better than that and knows all this. Essentially he got a buy 2 get the 3rd free type specia when he signed Jones. I believe Sanchez will be good but going out and trading a very good running back for a high price WR is premature. Let this kid lead the team by handing off the ball to our running backs and let them pound it.
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sjfalcon2001 says:
jcjets,
It is very well documented that feature backs break down soon after 30. It is very rare to see a RB have success past 30. That said, TJ doesn’t have the same mileage as the typical RB at 30, so he could play longer than others. I still don’t think we have a lot of leverage for a deal. The reason Cleveland might have interest is because of Mangini’s familiarity with TJ and TJ’s familiarity with Mangini’s playbook. We’d still have to sweeten the deal to get Edwards, though.
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And I really only see Cleveland as a reasonable trading partner.
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Get real. Thomas Jones just had a Curtis Martin type year, and he looks as good physically now as he ever has been. Give him the damn guaranteed year or pile a bunch of money on him in the uncapped year and thank God you’ve got him. Same goes for Washington. Give him the dough and shut up.
Use the uncapped year strategically to work these damn salary issues out when you have the opportunity.
In this league, you need at least two stud running backs at all times, and maintaining three just makes good sense.
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JetfaninLA says:
It’s always good to just test the waters with someone who is unhappy with their contract. Hey, maybe this was a gentleman’s agreement with TJ saying that they’d see if there is any interest out there for him if he returns back to OTAs. We all know there was a similar agreement in place when he played in Chicago.
Thankfully, we all know Tannenbaum isn’t stupid. He’s probably been one of the best GMs we’ve had (and unless someone can point out a better one, the best in my life since I was born in ’86). He knows the NFL is becoming a league where 2 RBs are the norm. Unless he can strike a great deal for us (for like an Braylon Edwards who is a franchise and young WR), I don’t see any deal happening.
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rich says:
how bout we trade for darnell dockett, he’ll come cheap w/ new contract n we need d-line depth… guys an animal,, wouldnt mind a trade for braylon either, TJ n brad smith, maybe a pick for braylon n jamal lewis?
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Brett Justin says:
if we can get a wideout like edwards you deal jones
Trade Jones for who no one’s available anymore. The closet one I can see is Chad Ochocinco and I heard Cincinnati wanted him back. Braylons going to workouts, Boldin been going to the workouts and there aren’t anymore availabe receivers.