Well it looks like we have our answer to another one of the unextended franchise tagged players. It does not appear safety Marcus Maye will be getting a new contract from the Jets before the July 15th deadline.
The team has not responded to the latest proposal from Maye’s camp, and Maye has now pulled that offer off the table, sources told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). “No deal is expected,” Rapsheet adds. That would seem to conflict with the Jets’ stance from May that they were “working relentlessly” to get a deal done.
A source also told Rapoport that “negotiations went south weeks before the tag deadline” after New York offered a contract that had an average annual value “about 20% below even the tag amount for 2021.” No wonder he rejected it. Maye is currently set to make about $10.6MM playing under the tag this season.
We heard a couple of weeks ago that the Florida product could be looking for a deal with an AAV of around $14MM, while the Jets viewed the deal John Johnson got from the Browns ($11.25MM AAV over three years) as a better comp.
Rapoport says that Maye understandably turned down the Jets’ offer, and “had significantly more in APY and guarantees from multiple teams heading into FA.” It sounds like he’s content to now play out this season in New York, and look to cash in with one of those other team’s in next year’s free agency.
Drafted 39th overall in 2017, Maye has never made a Pro Bowl or All-Pro team, but was graded as the league’s fifth-best safety in 2020 by Pro Football Focus.
The 28-year-old was productive last season, finishing with 88 tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles, 11 passes defended, and two interceptions. He’s started all 54 games that he’s appeared in over his four years with the Jets.
Sounds like he may have hammy problems all year! 20% below tag price and NY taxes, screw that.
The Jets have a good cap situation so why are they lowballing players or asking them to take 50% pay cuts? Players coming off a 2-14 season don’t need their morale crushed even further do they?
I’m 48 and fully understand why many of the same NFL teams continually are awful. Burrow isn’t going to change Cinny, Rivera only drafts D is that helping DC? How about the Chargers what have they done? Jags, Fins, Bears, Raiders et al. A long list of continuing floundering franchises.
Rivera’s next four picks after drafting Chase Young last year were on offense, as were two of his Day 1 and Day 2 draft picks this year.
Teams like Cleveland and Buffalo, were perennial bottom feeders but are seeing light at the end of the tunnel now, so change is possible if your willing to admit your mistakes and learn from them.
OR (1) you stink for so long that you compile enough top draft talent to win a 3rd or 4th place schedule; (2) the most accomplished QB in history leaves your division.
Or, odessa_00, you could be wrong, and relying on a lazy narrative and a lack of research.
The Bills went 17 years between playoff appearances, 2000-2016, and has made the playoffs three out of the last four years, two of those appearances coming while Tom Brady was still in the division. Not a single member of the 2000-2016 draft classes was still on the Bills’ 2020 division winner, and only one was on the 2019 playoff team, and that as a back-up. On the 2017 playoff team, two first rounders, two third rounders and one fifth rounder from the 2000-2016 draft classes started a majority of the games, but only three, a #1, a #3 and a #5, started all 16 of them. So compiling top draft talent “for so long” doesn’t seem to have been a big factor in the Bills’ turnaround (of their current top 10 draft picks, they had to trade up to pick one of them).
The Browns, btw, were infamous for compiling good rosters but fielding bad teams until they finally seemed to hire the right coach. And they’re still in a division with two perennial contenders.
cka2nd, your research is fantastic. Makes you sound knowledgeable about football, really. Maybe one day you’ll reveal your identity and get a degree or an award for all your hard work (as long as you cite your sources).
That said, the narrative may have been “lazy” – but it was accurate.
One winning season in a decade doesn’t equate to a turnaround, Duval… Previous Browns teams had some talent, yes, but not “good rosters” — not for that division, anyway. And they’re STILL playing a 3rd place schedule in 2021 (which may help them make the playoffs again). So the jury is still out….
The Bills reversal appears to be more sound, but the ‘17 and ‘19 “playoff teams” you babbled about were one & done. And in case you forgot, the Jets went to consecutive AFC championships WHILE the Pats were good. Look at that franchise now. You can spin your research all you want, but the Bills are “paper champs” until proven better.
Pro Football Reference (the Starters and Rosters tab for my citation of the team and year players were drafted) is where I do most of my research, supplemented by OTC, Pro Sports Transactions and, rarely, spotrac.
I agree about the Browns, we’ll see if they can sustain.
So what if the Bills teams in 2017 and 2019 were one and done? After 17 years of not even making the post-season, that was an accomplishment, especially in McDermott’s first season as the HC, when he was evaluating the roster for who he wanted to keep going forward. And the Pats were still good enough in those years to make the playoffs and, in ’17, go to the Super Bowl with a top 5 defense, which was still a top 7 defense last year. I have continuing doubts about Josh Allen myself, but they weren’t built the way you said they were built, a fact you might acknowledge as I acknowledged your point about the Browns.
To be clear, in my initial comment, #1 referred to the Browns and #2 to the Bills. The Browns were much worse than the Bills over the last 20 yrs and their issues much deeper.
I think we’re in the same page more or less but, to arty!’s original point about perennial mediocrity (or worse), I think it’s too early to call either situation a turnaround.
The Jets are not quite ready to cash in yet. They’d ideally like to start doing that in two years, after (again, ideally) their new QB is ready to be a franchise star. In the meantime, they will spend as little as possible to keep space open for long term players. Maye figured to be one of those, and while he is very good, he hasn’t convinced them that he is worth paying for a year or two while NYJ won’t contend. I understand the approach.
I would, to echo what you said lemon, still make a better offer. Not only does Maye offer a lot on the field, he is likely a leader (one of the few on a very young/new team) tenured players in the locker room. The Jets are building a new culture, and having leaders who produce on the field and are safe off of the field (no legal troubles, camera fetishes, etc) are useful. Plus, players see how organizations treat their stars extension-wise and weigh that in free agency. If a player thinks that the team might not make him a lucrative extension offer, that team might slip in his preferences.
I would offer Maye a higher deal, and front-load it heavily for the first two years. That makes him cheaper/tradeable later if the Jets want to. Unless they’re concerned about injuries, the Jets would get a good leader to help build the locker room and good play on the field. They might pay a higher price initially, but these next two seasons will be crucial for their long term success because it will determine how they build their new mindset.
He’s good not great but wants a great not good paycheck. Who doesn’t?
The Jets could have let him walk rather than tagging him at top 3 in his position. Same ole Jets.
The safety position price range makes the call to tag easier. It could be that Douglas is looking to cleanse the team of all of MacCagnan’s leftovers, but Maye should be one they’d want to keep.
And apparently had offers before he was franchised a lot closer to what he wanted than to what the Jets have offered him, an offer from which the Jets have apparently not moved, and would leave him as about the 17th highest paid safety in the league in AAV, and then the 20th (let’s just say), and then the 23rd, and then the 28th, and with little or no shot at getting a better pay day down the road.
Looks smart to me for gambling on himself, and the Jets look like fools for not at least responding to his offer.
This is how you do proper business. Tag a guy you clearly want to keep but if you’re offering a fair market value and he says no, you can tell fans you tried. Maye is a good player. He’s also 28 and will be 29 by next season. There isn’t a lot of incentive to outbid yourself for a good player.
“A one-year tender offer of the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position for the current year, or 120 percent of his previous salary, whichever is greater.”
The jets are playing this smart for once contract wise. They franchise him this year he gets 10M+. i dont see the safety market really taking a huge rise this year assuming Adams doesn get Aaron Donald type money and even then might not move it to be more than 20% .
Next year he will be around 12/12.5 if tagged again. and even if they go for a 3rd round of franchise tags they still would probably be 15 or 16 and still under the average.
Its a horrible pr move and could blow back on future signings though to save a few mil especially when you have a lot to spend.
Fiscally, they’re working it to their benefit. Players notice that type of thing though, so I’m not sure it’s smart. The Jets are a lousy football team with poor ownership, and they’ve been so for awhile. Attracting players is already an uphill battle, and stuff like this doesn’t help.
It will have blowback as i mentioned at the end of my original post but in reality outside of draft picks how many players truly get franchised and draft picks are really kind of stuck where they go.
The Jets are willing to go over price for FA as well as presented by our linebackers. This year and probably the next few short of an incredible showing by team and saleh this year they will have to overpay for FA regardless as Gase has really made us a bigger laughing stock and pushed away any decent player because he wasnt “his” guy.
At the same time, the Jets have drafted 7 defensive backs in Douglas’ two drafts and dealt Jamal Adams away last year while hiring a defensive minded coach this year. I think that shows they aren’t committed to Maye to be part of the rebuild, and figure they can get good DB play from new in house talent development, so they might as well let him walk or trade him if they can. They want to save the money they’d be paying him on a long term deal for someone younger, simple as that.