Looks like Lazard is back for chump change. Went from 11 mil before to 1.75. https://x.com/ZackBlatt/status/1910293896602538397 For that money makes sense to keep him. His drop rate is high, but is he really that must worse than Slayton whom the Giants just signed for 12 mil a year? This was a solid move by Mooge. We basically have Josh/Lazard/Corley on cheap deals as WR3-5. Do not have a real #2, which is why we either have to get one in the second round or get Warren at 7 who will effectively be #2 pass catcher.
The good news is we're paying a bad WR acceptable money. The bad news is that bad WR is our WR2 right now.
Slayton is coming off a stretch that got Lazard the same amount of money so the contract makes sense when you look at precedent. That doesn't mean it's good, it just means it follows suit. I don't want either of them for that money.
I mean they are both coming off a pretty identical season right now. Lazard did have 2 more drops but also 4 more TDs and more yards per game. Born a year apart. Neither had guaranteed contract. Slayton got 12 mil and Lazard got 2. Much better deal for us.
Lazard gets too much hate here. We have nothing at wr after Wilson. He's a solid depth piece. Sent from my genius mind.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id...s-allen-lazard-takes-pay-cut-225m-base-salary Sources: Jets' Allen Lazard takes pay cut to $2.25M base salary The New York Jets' offseason purge has claimed quarterback Aaron Rodgers and his most prolific wide receiver, Davante Adams, but one member of the old Green Bay Packers gang is sticking around. Ending months of speculation, wide receiver Allen Lazard agreed to a significant pay cut to remain with the Jets, sources confirmed to ESPN on Thursday. Lazard was thought to be a goner due to his $11 million base salary (nonguaranteed) for 2025, but the two sides restructured the contract after several weeks of discussions. His new base salary is $2.25 million, and he can earn an additional $250,000 with game-by-game roster bonuses. In exchange, the Jets guaranteed $1.75 million of his base pay and voided the final year of his contract (2026), allowing Lazard to become a free agent after the season. The move reduces Lazard's 2025 cap charge from $13.2 million to $4.6 million. There is an additional $4.4 million "dead" charge in 2026. Over the Cap first reported the new agreement. In early March, Lazard was given permission to seek a trade but found no takers. General manager Darren Mougey said March 30 at the NFL annual league meeting that the two sides were in talks on a revised deal. "Listen, anytime you have a player of that magnitude, he's a really good blocker," coach Aaron Glenn said last week. "I [coached] against him a number of times when he was in Green Bay, so I know what he brings to the table." Lazard and Garrett Wilson are the top holdovers in the Jets' receiving corps, which also includes newly signed veterans Josh Reynolds and Tyler Johnson. Lazard is the only remaining Green Bay link to Rodgers in New York. For two years, the Jets went all-in on Rodgers, a process that started in March 2023 with the signing of Lazard to the biggest free agent contract for a wide receiver that year -- four years, $44 million. They also signed wide receiver Randall Cobb (now retired) and acquired Adams in October. The goal was to surround Rodgers with familiar faces, including now-departed offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. Over those two years, the Jets went 12-22, resulting in an organizational reboot. Lazard has endured two rocky seasons in New York, compiling 60 catches, 841 yards and seven touchdowns. He slumped in 2023 and was benched at one point, later admitting that his focus was affected by Rodgers' season-ending Achilles injury in Week 1. With a healthy Rodgers in 2024, Lazard was revitalized and got off to a productive start, but he missed five games due to a sternum injury and lost his starting job to Adams. He finished the season with 37 receptions for 530 yards and six touchdowns. He also had a team-high seven drops. In seven seasons, the first five with the Packers, Lazard has 229 receptions, 3,077 yards and 27 touchdowns.
Hey how do you think he earned that reputation as a good blocker? Jokes about his simultaneously stone & grabby hands aside- not a terrible move as it saves us $ on the cap and we are thin at the position.
Does it for sure mean he will stay with the team? wouldn't the reworked contract make him easier to trade?
At his new pay rate, sure he’s a decent depth piece…at his old rate it was WAY overpaid. I get that maybe the stats were similar to Slayton last year, but I watch plenty of Giants games too, and I’d take Slayton over Lazard easily any day. I just think he’s a more dynamic player. That being said, the new deal pays Lazard for what he is…realistically like a #3 receiver…unfortunately for us, he’s our #2 right now unless we land a good one in the draft or maybe make a trade somehow…but our WR room sucks balls right now…we have literally ONE legit player in GW and a bunch of scrubs.
It's a much better chance to stay than with the original contract, that's for sure. I don't think he has a no trade clause, so yeah, could be used in a trade too like anyone else.
You know a receiver sucks if the best thing his coach can say about him is that "he's a really good blocker."
Last year he showed that he can still make big plays, and still blow big plays. 4.6 million sounds about right.
He had 6 TDs 530 yards in twelve games last year. And yes he is a good blocker even with an incompetent OC and OL coach. More than adequate as WR 3.
His hands bother me, and in the current receiver core, he would be our #1 for the majority of games, because they be all over Wilson, so he can ride to the occasion, or he'll be run out of town real quick.
