Keller is making slightly over $1 million in 2012 which is pretty much negligible in the grand scheme of things.
Only by the majority of the people here. Visit this place and you wonder why the Jets haven't won the last 10 superbowls in a row with all the talent we have.
Not to mention younger and bigger (at least 2 inches and 10-15 pounds). Keller has reached his ceiling, he is what he is (not great, not bad). Barring another injury setback, Cumberland has a bigger upside. We could probably get the same production out of either in what I expect this new offense to look like. If you could get value for Keller now before he walks, I don't know how Tanny can say no. We shall see....
I think Keller has a lot to offer this team regardless. He can play wr or te so that versatility should be put to good use.
Cumberland is "only" making 490K and we can obviously use all of the cap savings we can get. But that is not really my point. Keller is UFA after the year, Cumberland is a RFA. We would not resign Keller for what he will be looking for especially with Rosenhaus as his agent. If they believe they can get similiar production from Cumberland than we should get something for Keller while we can. Who knows...
Players have play value as well as future value. I think the question becomes does Keller's play value for the Jets next season exceed the future value that a trade would bring?
I agree that this year has outed him more but thats because this is where he should really be at his prime. He is not improving at all. He seems to start every season off well and then for the rest of the season people blame Schotty saying hes not utilizing him enough. He seems to give up realy easy and can't run block at all. For someone who's supposed to be a "matchup nightmare" every team seems to be able to take him out pretty easily.
Is there not a very real chance that Keller holds out this year? He won't want to play for $1m and the trade murmurs could be a response to him asking for a new deal.
True and fair enough. But I was also thinking of their using a first round pick to get him when they did. But... that is history now. Ftr I am not averse to keeping him for the reasons Brad and I were discussing, but it is clear that Keller has lots of negatives and is not a long term solution.
Yeah, but what is Cumberland's health situation? Some were questioning how much he might be hampered by his injury.
I get all that but I think it comes down to what a keller type player is worth in the new scheme. If the idea is that the type of player isn't going too be useful in the new offensive scheme I don't think Sparano would find either player very useful.
I still say move him to H back or full time WR. He's a heckuva receiving option..he's just not the conventional TE the jets have tried to make him become.
Keller would have gone to the probowl in the Saints or Patriots offense. If we don't trade him he'll end up going to the Patriots and being a nightmare to us. With that said we'll not be getting our 1st round pick back that we paid for him, so I would rather package him for a player and some pick swaps. If we could get a relatively young starting quality RT or SS and a mid round pick I would be happy. We would have to try and get Braylon and/or Cotch back in this scenario though, or Mark would be lost...
i created a thread making this very case a few weeks ago ... we should trade keller for a third, if feasible he brings nothing special to the table ... cumberland is bigger, stronger, and faster than him. kellers hands are nothing special and his awareness is below average keller is in the last year of his deal and had the best statistical year of his career ... its deal him now or let him walk next year, imo
I'd agree with you except for the fact that the Pats have such an embarrassment of riches at that position. Only reason for the Pats to pick him up would be out of pure spite.
A smart offense will find a way to use Keller, whether it's splitting him out wide, making him a complementary pass-catching tight end, moving him into the backfield sometimes as an H-Back. But since he's going to hit FA, if they don't think they have a good use for him, I'm not opposed to moving him for a 3rd if they can get it. Trading up for an undersized tight end who isn't an elite athlete or a decent blocker was a stupid move at the time, and now that we're altering schemes a little, it's looking even worse. That said, I don't think they could get a 3rd for Keller, I would think we'd be looking at a 4th, maybe a 4th and a 6th. I like the talk about Cumberland. If Cumberland is back healthy, he can replace Keller as a receiving TE. We won't need that role to be used as often, obviously, but there's a decent chance Cumberland is cut if they keep Keller and bring in a blocking TE. Trading Keller would let us pick up another pick and use Cumberland's skill, if they think he's going to be healthy. I think we need to revamp the tight end position. Bringing Sparano leads me to believe the Jets are going to do that.
I always felt it was ridicolous to sign Holmes for so much. We are a DEFENSIVE team, spend money in the defense. And for offense, we are a RUNNING team not a passing yet we spent so much on WR. Sanchez was fine his rookie season with average recievers + Braylon. Holmes really wasnt needed imo.
