But, I’m not sure it had to come to that. Tanny has shown that he will give disgruntled players the boot instead of working with them, and, for the most part, it has worked to our detriment.

Kendall was asking for a $1m more….not a particularly huge amount, but Tanny wouldn’t budge. Baker probably could have been made happy with a small raise in the future that would have given him some security, and given us the TE we need.

Now, Tanny is well within his right to refuse to renegotiate – these guys have contracts and they need to understand that the Jets can expect them to play under these deals…..

BUT, the thing to focus on is…is our team worse off now? I think the answer is a big YES. Kendall leaving left us with Adrian Clarke as a starter….that was a huge leap of faith that no responsible football person should make. And with Coles and Baker being shown the door b/c of contracts, we have huge holes at WR and TE.

Bottom line, I’m fine with Tanny playing hardball with contracts if we have a Plan B. In the past 3 situations, we didn’t. And if you look back a few years at the cutting of Kevin Mawae, we got extremely lucky that Mangold a) fell to us, and b) panned out. Because when we cut Mawae, we had Trey Teague as our only Center. Scary thought.

Anyway, that J’Nathan Bullock article was good so here’s another refresher:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/sports/football/03jets.html?_r=1

If Bullock turns out to be good, a big if just because it is the NFL, then the scouting department, who already has my respect for many of their picks, deserves great kudos. These guys do a nice job compared to years past. Maybe the comparisons to Gates will not just be because of his switch from basketball.

I know why they cut him, because they decided to play their hand in FA and the draft. It didn’t work out exactly – but we can find a backup TE just about anywhere.

…also that whole 9 million dollar thing…too…

This made me think…I wonder if Keller is actually further along as a blocker than Baker was at the same stage of his career.

Check the draft scouting reports:

Keller: http://www.fftoolbox.com/nfl_draft/profile_display.cfm?prospect_id=1249

“While Dustin Keller is an adequate blocker, his money will be made as a pass catching tight end in the NFL…his 26 reps on the bench press show he has the upper body strength to be an adequate blocker in the NFL.”

Baker:
http://archive.profootballweekly.com/content/archives2001/draft_2001/scoutingreports_te.asp#TE%20Chris%20Baker

“Has a receiver’s mentality when it comes to blocking and is generally content to do the minimum. Gets in the way but rarely knocks anyone off the line or works to finish…A bigger pass-catching tight end who has the size to become a good blocker, but he thinks of himself as a receiver first. Needs to play with a greater sense of urgency and to realize blocking is a big part of his job.”

Baker was a mediocre, at best, TE with not much tread left on his tires. His best plays came in WR formations and as Bent (and many others, including me) have said repeatedly, Keller is a clear upgrade as a pass catcher. Plus, Keller’s only a 2nd year guy, his blocking will become adequate and he needs to play every down, even when the Jets are in short yardage. Baker only would’ve retarded Keller’s development. Plus, his drop against the Raiders may have been the play that cost the Jets the playoffs…it was a BAD drop on a nice deep ball right down the middle and he had lots of open field. Easy FG range, game over.

If you compare Baker’s hands around a football in the picture accompanying this article and J’Nathan’s hands around a basketball here:

http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/jnathan_bullock/

…one might get the idea that his fingers could easily grasp the top of a helmut of a would be tackler if he is able to get in a straight arm under the face mask.

Second picture down here:

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/csu/index.ssf/2009/04/cleveland_state_basketball_pla.html

…also shows the incredible length of his fingers.

Of course, he has to make the team.