Buyer’s Remorse

Green with envy, it looks like Woody Johnson wants his own parade down the Canyon of Hero’s after watching the Giants celebrate their historic Super Bowl upset of the Patriots. To accomplish this objective, the Jets have spent close to 140 million dollars in the opening week of free agency to improve their roster. Instead of emulating the Giants and Patriots’ blueprint of frugally building their respective rosters, they have adopted the big-spending philosophy of the Washington Redskins and San Francisco 49ers, throwing money at free agents like they’re Eliot Spitzer at the Mayflower Hotel. Mark my words— the Jets are going to regret their decision to spend big in a mediocre free agent market.

The Jets current spending spree reminds me of Gang Green’s last big free agent bonanza. Remember, Jet fans, when your favorite team imported big names such as Boomer Esiason and Pepper Johnson to bolster the roster? They suffered from an extreme case of buyer’s remorse as the Boomer Esiason-led Jets sucked ass. Apparently, they never learned their lesson.

Calvin Pace was given a 45 million dollar contract (20 million guaranteed) for one good season. Prior to last year, he was considered a first round bust. This move smacks of Jets’ resigning of Bryan Thomas. Like Pace, he was considered a disappointment until he switched to a 3-4 linebacker in Eric Magnini’s scheme. And, like Pace, he produced one good season. Thomas was rewarded with a fat contract extension and quickly reverted back to his “bust” days. That doesn’t bode well for Pace.

In addition to making Pace one of the highest paid linebacker’s in football, they made Alan Fancea the highest paid offensive lineman. Now don’t get me wrong— Fancea is (was) a great offensive lineman, but he’s now 31 and he is a guard. This signing is also curious because they could have simply resigned Pete Kendall for an extra 1 million dollars. Moreover, they gave a 35 million dollar contract Damien Woody, who was benched much of last season and only played 5 games at right tackle. Combined with the salary of D‘Brickashaw Ferguson, the Jets probably have the highest paid/underachieving offensive line in football (sound like any other big spending/small results team from NY?).

Then for good measure, they made a big trade for Kris Jenkins… and of course gave him a big contract. This is a big commitment to a player who has battled weight issues and has had some major injury problems in the past (he didn’t in the 2005 and 2006 seasons). Committing 20 million dollars to oft-injured and out of shape defensive tackle is probably the riskiest proposition the Jets made.

If history is any indicator, then the Jets are not going to make the playoffs. Jet fans need go no further than 4-hours down I-95 to see what the spend-big-and-lose-big Washington Redskins have been doing to know what lies ahead. I’m sure fans will point to the Patriots big free agent acquisitions last year as a reason for hope, but that belies the fact that the Pats had a franchise quarterback and a strong core to build upon, while he Jets lack a QB (Pennington and Clemens suck) and don’t have any core to speak of. My prediction— Woody Johnson will be looking for a new coach and GM after a 6-10 season.