We heard yesterday he was being fired, and the Todd Bowles era ended in very disappointing fashion today. The Jets were destroyed by the Patriots by a final score of 38-3. The defense was shredded by Tom Brady, and the unit was without one of their top players in Trumaine Johnson. Johnson was a healthy scratch, and it was because he was a no show for meetings and practice this week, according to Josina Anderson of ESPN (Twitter link).
Johnson said after the game that he overslept and was late to practice on Wednesday, and that that’s why he was benched, according to Darryl Slater of NJ.com. Johnson was signed away from the Rams this offseason with a massive contract, and has mostly been a disappointment. He’s played pretty well overall, but not at the level to deserve the five-year $72MM contract New York handed him. While GM Mike Maccagnan likely wishes he had that one back, his contract makes it impossible to move on until 2020 at the earliest, Rich Cimini of ESPN.com notes. Jason Fitzgerald of Overthecap.com thinks the Jets might be “trying to set the stage” for a suspension of some sorts that could void guaranteed money in his contract. Any such actions would surely draw a stiff challenge from the player’s union.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Jaguars running backs T.J. Yeldon and Leonard Fournette were caught by TV cameras sitting on the bench for nearly the entire game today instead of standing on the sideline, and head of football operations Tom Coughlin ripped their actions after the game, per Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com. “I am disappointed in the behavior today from T.J. Yeldon and Leonard Fournette. They were disrespectful, selfish and their behavior was unbecoming that of a professional football player,” Coughlin said. While Fournette is locked into Jacksonville’s future with his fully guaranteed contract, Yeldon is set to be a free agent at the end of the year and is highly unlikely to be brought back.
- LeGarrette Blount didn’t seem to have much left in the tank this year with the Lions, but the 32 year old bruising runner wants to play in 2019. Blount only averaged 2.71 yards per carry this year and was an afterthought in the offense when Kerryon Johnson was healthy, so Blount might not be able to find a team willing to bring him in this offseason. He had a very quiet market this past spring before Detroit eventually decided to give him a one year deal.
- In case you missed it, Matthew Stafford isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Blount needs to be a goal line only back up on a playoff team. He’s got very little to offer as a 15 rep runner. He can’t cut and Zenner out played him the last month and he’s an un-drafted twice cut RB
Sounds like Coughlin forgot to take his meds today or maybe he has amnesia and doesn’t recall the crap that he allowed Beckham to get away with.
Or maybe he learned from his mistakes in those situations?
Coughlin has always been a
A hardass, OBJ was more reigned in back then than he sees now.
Have another one
Bortles stood on the field all day and did the same amount of work…what’s his point
cricket cricket