On Tuesday, the Buccaneers beat out four other teams to land former Jets tight end Jordan Leggett off waivers. We now know the identities of those other four clubs, thanks to Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter): the Bills, Packers, Steelers and Titans all placed claims on the 2017 fifth-round pick, but the Bucs won out due to their higher waiver priority.
Given the widespread interest in Leggett, one can’t help but wonder if the Jets and interim GM Adam Gase could have netted a conditional draft pick for him in a trade. Instead, the Jets lost the tight end for nothing.
Here’s more from the AFC East:
- The Jets won’t hire a firm for their GM search, but they have told people that TV personality & sideline reporter Peter Schrager could be contacted for assistance on prospective candidates, according to Manish Mehta of the Daily News (on Twitter). However, we have conflicting word on that front – Ralph Vacchiano of SNY (on Twitter) hears that Schrager is only being considered for a broadcast role on the team’s preseason telecasts and won’t have any involvement in the team’s GM hunt.
- The Patriots gave wide receiver Dontrelle Inman a one-year deal worth $1.5M with $300K guaranteed, plus another $1MM in incentives (Twitter link via Ben Volin of The Boston Globe). Inman still has to win his roster spot, but, as Volin notes, it is notable that he got more than just a minimum deal.
- The Bills may be without new tight end Tyler Kroft to start the season.
- The Dolphins made a serious commitment to cornerback Xavien Howard, but they’re still on track to have more than $100MM in spending room next offseason.
Bills need to go get Kyle Rudolph
If the Cooper deal doesn’t happen, expect DAL to go after him big time.
Is that Jets story something that teams actually do? Do they ask sideline reporters for their input in hiring a new GM? That seems crazy to me.
That’s the first thing I thought of with Leggett. If you have that many teams interested, wouldn’t someone put something on the table? Even flipping a #7 for a #6 would be better than getting nothing.
It feels just a little like Gase wants to put his stamp on the team, even if patience might be more beneficial in the long-run.
Gase is trying to purge what he thinks are Maccagnan’s mistakes and he doesn’t care what if anything he gets for them. Is a low 6th round pick (most likely after #200) the best he could get for Lee? He just released a guy that had a number of suitors. The Jets got (sort of) a conditional 7th from the Raiders for Hack. Obviously Hack didn’t make the team, but Leggett has a much better chance to do so.
FWIW, I usually have no problem with tanking, and not a huge problem with purging. But Gase needs to be smart about it. A #7 is not worth a lot, but it might be enough to move up one spot in the 4th round.
Gase getting Jets into perfect position for the number one pick in next years draft.
And the next year and the year filling that….