Saturday, March 13, 2010

FlyHyNY: Losing TJ and Signing LT.

It's too bad RB Thomas Jones is no longer a Jet. I don't like all this hoopla about RB LaDainian Tomlinson. Yes, he was a great running back, but he's not the same anymore. Regardless of the O-line, Jones has consistently rushed for over a thousand yards the past few years, while Tomlinson has been in decline. Jones has played under four different quarterbacks with the Jets (Mark Sanchez, Brett Favre, Kellen Clemens, Chad Pennington) and has been steady. If you add his years with the Chicago Bears, that's two more QBs in Kyle Orton and Rex Grossman. For these many years, Thomas Jones has been carrying the offense steadily.

So why wouldn't the Jets want to keep Jones? Yes, he caused a bit of a stir last year when he demanded a new contract, but he showed up to training camp and had a great season. He also ended up with the best season of his career. Apparently, however, the team wasn't impressed and actually demoted him late in the season in favor of Shonn Greene. They also rested Jones during post-season practices. In their AFC Championship Game loss, Greene went down to injury, and Jones couldn't get the yardage.

The team doesn't think TJ should be the starter, but Jones still thinks he's a premier back and should get paid for it. This is the main disagreement. The team want's him to be the third running back and wants to pay him accordingly. They offered TJ a pay cut, but he wouldn't take it. He ended up being released. He was due to make around $5 million this year if he stayed with the Jets, but he ended up signing with Kansas City for $5 million also - but over two years. Why would he take such a deal? Because the Jets wouldn't match it.

Now the team brings in LaDainian Tomlinson. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer knows him well. He is also reportedly resigned to the idea of being the third down back. There are reports that they think Tomlinson "still has burst." I haven't watched too much film on LaDainian recently so I can't agree or disagree. I just hope the Jets have done their homework, because they seem to be going all out to sign this guy. I wouldn't mind having Tomlinson on the team, but I don't think he should have gotten paid more than Thomas Jones wanted.

Would the team actually bring in a high profile guy like Tomlinson to sell jerseys and PSLs? I understand they would like to do so, but for exclusively this reason? I highly doubt it.

I don't see why they couldn't have kept Jones and give some sort of incentive laden contract. If he ends up getting more touches than Shonn Greene, or if he goes over a thousand again, then he gets a certain amount of dollars. You know. Something. Anything. Maybe it was offered and rejected. Maybe it was never offered in the first place. It's a shame it didn't work out.