I know all of the New York Jets fans are excited for the upcoming season. You overachieved last season and a few players emerged as future stars in this league. You spent the off-season acquiring high-profile players in hopes of making a championship run this year. The rumor is that the Jets are now targeting Terrell Owens to sign with the team. Why would the Jets sign T.O. when they already have a wide-receiving corps able to handle the “run-first” offense? Here are some of the reasons why Ownes will not be playing for the Jets this season.
First, you have to look at the wide-receiving corps and realize that there isn’t any room for him on the roster. He would be steaming on the sidelines waiting for a 4-wide set to be called. Mark Sanchez already has Santonio Holmes, Braylon Edwards, Jerricho Cotchery, Dustin Keller, David Clowney, and Brad Smith to catch the ball. I know Holmes will have to sit out the first few games this season, but when he comes back, he would jump right into that #1 or #2 receiving role. Sanchez isn’t going to be out there throwing the ball 40 times a game. Rex Ryan will still be trying to manage the game and let his defense win games.
Next up, the sheer thought of having Braylon Edwards and Terrell Owens on the same team is spine-tingling. How many balls would this duo total? 40? It would be a safer bet to throw screen passes to LaDanian Tomlinson and let him get his usual 2.5 yards (he’s washed up).
The Jets can’t turn into the Washington Redskins and try to sign free-agents who are 2-3 years past their prime. It will get butts in the seats, but from what I know about NFL games, only the Jacksonville Jaguars have trouble in that department. Fans will go to Jets games and scream “J-E-T-S Jets, Jets, Jets” even if their starting quarterback was Justin Bieber and “The Situation” was their running back.
The chemistry of the team is important, especially one that goes into a season with high hopes. If they start out the year 2-3 or 3-4, people of T.O.’s ilk will start trying to motivate the team and there will be too many chiefs and not enough indians. You can’t load a team up with veterans with a young quarterback. Sanchez will have to start being the leader of this team and get into the faces of players trying to cause trouble. I’m not sure if T.O. could handle another young quarterback trying to get into his face.
The Jets will be a good team this season, no doubt about it. They shouldn’t be trying to reach. Their team is solid and they should just stand pat. Who knows, all of this could just be driven by the PR Machine of Drew Rosenhaus. He could be trying to drive up the price that the Cincinnati Bengals have to pay to sign Owens. The Bengals and Rams were the only two teams in the hunt a few days ago, and it appears that the Rams have fell out of the running. If that is the case, Rosenhaus, you got me again…show T.O. the money!