I agree, but as BrowningNagle said, what was the rush to sign him? Why not wait? Better yet, why not tell him they wanted to bring him back solely as the QB coach or player/coach, and strictly a backup/insurance? Why tell him that he will be the starter?
First, I don’t believe telling him he’s the starter means anything, if they even did. I think he’s the fallback plan if everything goes wrong the rest of the way at the QB position. I will be very surprised if Bridgewater is not starting opening day providing he is healthy enough to do so. I don’t want to sound like I’m defending the move. If it was up to me I would’ve been perfectly content forgetting about him and going into the season with Teddy B, rookie & Hack. I do understand the Jets wanting him back though considering he is a great influence in the locker room and has great mentor qualities and is someone the coaching staff can rely on if they need to, at least until he inevitably gets injured. I also can’t defend 10mil because I can’t fathom the fact that we live in an NFL world where Josh McCown is making 10mil. The only thing I can think of is the agent who seemed to play Mac like a drum was telling him of interest by other teams. So while I don’t like the 10 mil or even bringing him back at all I do understand it and can’t get too worked up about the 10 mil because it’s only for 1 year and I doubt they would spend the entire cap space this year anyway.
I guess the same questions could be asked the opposite way. You know you want him back to lead the locker room and mentor whatever QB you're going to have behind him. You have $90 mil to spend. What's the issue? Why wait? And the starter thing is only an issue if you're taking those words at face value, which you shouldn't be.
What was the rush? Were the Jets worried that some other team coveted him? Why not focus on more pressing holes/needs? Nothing should have been said about his starting, period, if he was brought back solely to be a mentor and lead the locker room. It makes the Jets look stupid. If I was Teddy and another team had shown interest, I would have told the Jets to take their offer and shove it after I heard that McCown was told that he was the "starter".
They signed McCown before anyone... and then went out and got the best CB available, best ILB available, a solid rotational RB, a replacement at C and retained Enunwa and Claiborne... and STILL have about $30 mil to spend. So as I've been saying for days, McCown's contract didn't hamper the Jets even one little tiny iota. And the starter thing is just ridiculous. I shouldn't have to say it again, but Bowles has a very clear stance on starter's: the incumbent doesn't lose his job without being beat out for it. McCown ended as the starter, he starts as the starter. This has NO bearing on the week 1 starting QB situation and I think Bridgewater is well aware of that.
We can't just shrug our shoulders about the money though. Maccagnan was played by Fitzpatrick's agent and now played by Mcclown's agent. Both below average old bums without any other suitors!!!! and he allowed their agents to make a mockery of him. That has long term consequences far beyond just the cap figure. These shark agents see blood in the water now with Maccagnan. I don't think Bridgewater even starts this year, but suppose he did, and suppose he had a good season. He would be 26 years old. He would actually have other suitors unlike fitz and mccown. A free agent coming off a good season. His agent is gonna say to Teddy, dude they gave big money to some old ass bums in Fitzpatrick and Mccown. We're gonna break the bank with you.
Rex, I could buy that if they had signed Bridge first. McCown was brought back at $10mil just to be a fallback option? Why promise him the starters job if that were the case? I realize they have no mandate other than to show up on Sundays this year but wow.. TBridge was a gamble and the real fallback in case McCown gets injured again. QB X from the draft isn't in the conversation unless he lights it up in TC. Petty and Hack should be goners unless Macc decides not to draft one. McCown isn't a QB coach just yet and mandate or not, there has to be some minimal expectation of his performance. Especially for $10mil. Like you said, they figured on Fitz having a repeat year and taking them to the playoffs and that didn't happen. They may be hoping lightning strikes twice with McCown 2.0.
Like Crowell's agent and Claiborne's agent and Williamson's agent and... well you get it. The embarrassing overreaction by some continues.
I never said that signing McCown hampered their signing anyone else. The starter thing is not ridiculous imo. Sorry, but you don't get to categorically declare what is ridiculous and what isn't for others. Bowles can have his stance, but it doesn't have to be verbally expressed, especially when you're planning on signing another QB with starting experience who's a lot younger than McCown, and who, if healthy, is better and has more upside, and are supposedly planning on drafting a rookie QB who could be ready to start day one.
All I'll say is Teddy signed here knowing the deal full well, so clearly it's bothering you a whole lot more than it's bother potential QBs. And that's all I care about... no offense.
No offense taken, and yes, what other QBs think is more important than what I think. It's really not that big a deal to me, I was just trying to point out that it could have backfired. Yes, Teddy did still sign here, but supposedly, no other team was interested in signing him. If that's true, then he may have signed regardless of what was said about McCown or even him, just for a chance to prove himself, or for a paycheck, but unless he (Teddy) was told that in spite of what they told McCown, Teddy would have a chance to compete for the starting job, he could have signed elsewhere if another team was interested or have decided to sit back and wait until some team lost a QB to injury and signed there instead. That would have disrupted the Jets' plan.
Good post. signing McCown after losing out on Cousins was a no brainer imo.. In terms of the starter thing, I agree he is the incumbent. Someone will have to beat him out for the job, which is how it should be. With Bridgewater I think they are taking a flier, and trying to catch lightning in a bottle. If he shows up and impresses, then he will certainly get his shot. But that's not something you depend on with him. I see him as an upgrade to Petty, with more upside. I think it's more likely a rookie will get a chance, unless of course McCown is playing well again, and the team is in any sort of playoff contention. Week 1, I believe McCown will start short of someone else really stepping up. Personally I'm ok with that, as I thought last season was some of the better QB play i've seen here since '08 (granted that's not saying much).
Bingo. I feel like it's pretty cut and dry at this point. McCown ended as the starter, he's going to open camp as the starter, and that's the way it should be considering who is behind him (Teddy) and who might be behind him (a rookie). I'm praying one of them beats him out in camp because that would be good news for us, but I don't think that will happen.
If Teddy is healthy and not too rusty, McCown is going to be choking on Teddy's dust as Teddy rockets past him and into the start lineup. The thing is, I'm not sure I want that to happen unless Mac does a lot more to strengthen/upgrade the OL, because I don't want to see Teddy get killed because Mac failed to upgrade the OL.
Interesting tidbit from Peter King this morning who had the rundown of all the Mike McCartney clients and how FA went down for them... McCown and the Bills were in serious talks the day he re-signed with the Jets. We weren't bidding against ourselves. In King's words, we had to put our "best contractual foot forward" to bring him back. So, that theory flies out the window for those of you that tried to run with it.
While this is in no way an attack on you, i have to say it. The fact that the jets were worried about losing Mcown shows how bad we have become as an organization. The Cleveland Browns used to worry about stupid stuff like this, worrying about bottom of the barrel guys, now they have a GM who knows what he is doing and I believe you will see that team turn it around with Dorsey at the helm. Mac is worried about losing Mcown, my god how the Jets have fallen.
IMHO the issue with the $10M is that it could have been spent in better ways. Maybe if they don't have to spend that amount of money on McCown they can sign do one of three things: 1) They could have grabbed Mathieu who ended up signing up for a 1 year, $7M contract and had a history with Bowles. 2) They could have used the money to grab a better OL (center) that is desperately needed and would help any QB. Now that we have lost the draft choices this will be even harder to find. I realized they signed Long, but with that $10M extra (or some fraction thereof) they could have probably signed someone better or healthier. 3) Perhaps if they give more money to Terry Bridgewater he signs a better deal (from the Jets standpoint) and signs a contract that allows the Jets to own house rights for two years - perhaps with a one year deal plus an option at the club's discretion. That would gives the Jets much more flexibility. Personally I think that McCown's value as a mentor is overstated. Not that he isn't a great teammate, but if you actually look at the list of how younger QB's under McCown have fared it isn't pretty. I am not blaming McCown, just saying that this mentor thing is overblown. The fact is that in very few instances in the history of the NFL has a good/great QB followed a good/great QB on the same team. This leads me to the conclusion that in general most all QB's will succeed or fail based on their own accord and what the FO does to put the QB in a winning position (via the other 21 starting players) much more so than any mentoring from one QB to another.
