Marcus Maye and the Jets didn’t come to an agreement before the deadline for franchise-tagged players, meaning the safety will play the 2021 season under the $10.6MM tag. We heard recently that the two sides never came close, and Rich Cimini of ESPN.com opined that they would be heading for divorce this next offseason since another tag would cost the team $12.7MM in 2022. Yesterday Maye “expressed frustration” about the situation and “hinted he hasn’t ruled out asking for a trade if he’s tagged again in 2022,” Cimini writes. “I’ve got 17 weeks to be the best that I can be — and once we get to that point, we’ll cross that line again,” Maye said cryptically when asked if he’d approached the Jets about a potential trade.
When asked if he felt treated fairly throughout the process this summer, Maye said “to say fair, unfair … I’d say somewhere in the middle,” before adding “from my end, I wasn’t happy. I wasn’t satisfied.” New York insisted all offseason that locking Maye up was high on their agenda, but the Florida product clearly doesn’t feel like they were being truthful with that sentiment. The Jets, of course, went through a similar situation with fellow safety Jamal Adams before ultimately trading him to Seattle. For what it’s worth, Maye didn’t sound intent on playing elsewhere, saying he just wants to play “wherever I’m welcome. I was drafted here. I’d love to be here.” This will be a situation to keep an eye on throughout the season.
Here’s more from around the league as we wrap up Sunday evening:
- The NFL adopted strict COVID-19 protocols for unvaccinated players this offseason, and it’s now clear they’re going to be serious about enforcing them. Unvaccinated players will automatically be fined $14,650 for every violation of the protocols, Jenna Laine of ESPN.com writes. That might not be a fortune for the league’s stars, but it’s almost half a game check for younger and cheaper players. Potential violations of the protocol include not wearing a mask when required to or not adhering to the strict rules about socializing. There’s already been a fair amount of drama surrounding the protocols even as training camps just start to get underway, so we’ll likely see a whole lot more before the season is done.
- Speaking of those COVID-19 protocols, the Vikings are now very shorthanded at quarterback because of them. With Kellen Mond testing positive for the virus, fellow passers Kirk Cousins and Nate Stanley had to be placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list as close contacts. That left former Washington quarterback Jake Browning as the only active signal-caller they have. As such, Minnesota is looking to add a veteran free agent quarterback, Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press tweets. Tomasson reports 2020 UDFA from North Arizona Case Cookus is a “strong possible option” to be signed. He later tweeted that a source told him Cookus would workout for the team on Monday. Former St. John’s (MN) quarterback Jackson Erdmann will also be present at that workout, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network tweets. Erdmann recently played in the Johnny Manziel-affiliated Fan Controlled Football League. Presumably, somebody will be signed from this workout.
- Raiders running backs coach Kirby Wilson abruptly retired a couple weeks ago, and now we know who will be replacing him. Las Vegas will have offensive quality control coach Tim Berbenich coach the running backs this year (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). Other coaches will also assist, Rapsheet hears, but Berbenich will be the one in charge. Wilson had been a running backs coach in the NFL since 1997 with the Patriots, and had coached under Jon Gruden in Tampa before re-joining him with the Raiders in 2019. Berbenich also was on Gruden’s staff for a few years with the Bucs, and has been with the Raiders since 2018. He was previously an offensive quality control coach. He’ll now lead a new-look backfield after the offseason signing of Kenyan Drake to pair with Josh Jacobs.
Is there ever good news about contracts and the Jets?
Vikings are also reaching out to:
Bret Favre (Looks good in the Copper Fit commercials)
Sam Bradford
Shaun Hill
Christian Ponder
Matt Cassell
Tarvaris Jackson
Joe Webb
Donovan McNabb
I heard Fran Tarkenton is available.
So there is no one in the Twins bullpen the Vikings have an interest in?
The Twins aren’t even interested in the Twins bullpen…
I don’t necessarily think that staying unvaccinated is smart, but it is a player’s individual decision to do so. The NFL negotiated that with the union. These restrictions are something I understand when it is something necessary that affects the game or health protocols, but by this point they’re obviously just punishments for not doing what the NFL wants conceptually. Why even bother making it a choice or making that whole public show of disciplining the Bills for saying exactly what the NFL obviously agrees with? You can persuade people to get the shot, you can introduce restrictions designed to directly keep others safe, but the NFL needs to realize that it’s not a choice enforcer. It showed last year that it will play the games anyway when they decided that the game was too valuable (that Broncos game comes to mind, as well as forcing the Steelers to play three games in less than two weeks), so the scheduling problems I don’t believe are a huge concern because they’ll do it anyway.
I am not talking about whether or not we all should or should not be vaccinated. Let me be clear. I am talking about saying on the surface that you respect a choice and then coming up with new extreme restrictions that have nothing to do with the virus is disingenuous. I know this won’t be popular as a thought, but the NFL either needs to straight up just require the vaccine or ease up and respect their own official position. Fining players over $10,000 and identifying them with wristbands? That’s too much.
For myself, the disingenuous aspect of the policy is that owners are depriving an unvaccinated player of his livelihood while simultaneously profiting from fans who attend games unvaccinated. Seems rather hypocritical.
Get Vaccinated or Get Cut. That should be the NFL’s Motto. Teams will face Forfeits if their is a Covid Outbreak during the regular season. Zimmer Should be pissed, Front Line Doctors are pissed, Vaccinated individuals are pissed. Too many people believe all the BULLSHIT that is out there. I didn’t have time to get vaccinated, etc, etc, etc. Read some actual news articles The Reasoning of people who have not been vaccinated is Shear Stupidity. Also when it comes out that someone who is vaccinated that tested positive for the Virus they should put out which Vaccine they received.
You might think a Vaccine Gestapo is a great idea but many people would disagree. Ak185 is correct that the idea of branding unvaccinated people is absurd. Should these people also be sent off to forced labor camps until they learn the error of their ways?
Do you even science?!?!
So in other words, the “vaccinated” players will get fined for violating the protocol as they will most likely get the “virus” over and over?
Cool. Sounds like a logic idea in what looks to be a 1940’s era of football, wearing yellow “bracelets” to identify who’s Je— ah I mean unvaccinated.