Mike Maccagnan - Pro Football Rumors

Jets Will Stick With Bowles, Maccagnan

October 19th, 2016 at 2:04pm CST by Zachary Links

The Jets are off to an awful start this year and there’s no guarantee that things will get better anytime soon. Still, owner Woody Johnson says that he isn’t about to do anything drastic and he tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com that the jobs of coach Todd Bowles and GM Mike Maccagnan aren’t in jeopardy.

“We got ten games to go. I’m very confident with Todd Bowles and Mike,” Johnson said unequivocally. “I think we’ve got an excellent team (of leaders). I really respect Todd, I know he’s doing what he’s going to do. It’s football. He’s a good coach. I have long-term confidence in him and in Mike and in their teams. That’s the way I feel. Onward and outward, we’ve had a tough schedule, it’s no excuse. We’ve been in some games. But Monday night was … we gotta be better than that.”

The Jets, of course, are coming off of an embarrassing Monday night loss to the Cardinals. That loss marked their fourth-straight defeat and a playoff berth seems rather unlikely for this year. The Jets will have to forge ahead without star receiver Eric Decker and Ryan Fitzpatrick‘s struggles have led them to turn back to Geno Smith. Things are bad for Gang Green, but they’re not ready to blow everything up.

Bowles and Maccagnan, who are both highly-regarded in the league, are both in their second season with the Jets.

Extra Points: Jets, Kubiak, Broncos, Las Vegas

October 12th, 2016 at 9:31pm CST by Ben Levine

Some assorted notes from around the league…

Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com sees similarities between this year’s Jets team and the 2007 squad, with Todd Bowles and Mike Maccagnan playing the roles of Eric Mangini and Mike Tannenbaum. Both squads were tentative about going all-in as they looked towards the future, although Fitzgerald believes that 2007 squad did a better job of evaluating prospects. The big X-factor is quarterback Christian Hackenberg, who the writer compares to 2006 draftee Kellen Clemens.
Fortunately for the Jets, Muhammad Wilkerson is the only player whose “roster status is “relatively firm.” The team is still a “massive rebuilding project,” according to Fitzgerald, and the writer believes the team could ultimately look to deal some of their veteran talent for future assets.
The Broncos are serious about Gary Kubiak‘s recovery. How serious? ESPN’s Jeff Darlington reports (via Twitter) that the team doesn’t want anyone to talk to their head coach about football while he’s recuperating. Meanwhile, Cameron Wolfe of The Denver Post wonders if interim coach Joe DeCamillis could become a “viable” head coach.
On Tuesday, the Nevada State senate approved a bill that would “potentially pave the way for an expanded convention center and an NFL-ready stadium” in Las Vegas, writes Jeff Gillan of News3LV.com. The bill will now head to the general assembly, who could deny the plan to fit a new stadium under the boosted “room tax.”

Reactions To Muhammad Wilkerson’s Deal

July 16th, 2016 at 9:12am CST by Ben Levine

The Jets surprised the NFL yesterday by inking Muhammad Wilkerson to an extension. The five-year deal is worth $86MM, including $37MM in guaranteed money.

Predictably, the league’s pundits have plenty of reactions to the extension. Let’s take a look at the opinions and rumblings from around the NFL…

ESPN.com’s Rich Cimini writes that this is the biggest “upset victory” for the Jets since their win over the Patriots during the 2010 playoffs. The writer notes that it never made any sense to trade the 26-year-old star, and he commends general manager Mike Maccagnan for understanding the player’s value.
Cimini also points out that fellow defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson is now a “valuable bargaining chip.” If the team is pessimistic about signing him to a long-term extension, Cimini believes we could see Richardson on the trading block by next offseason.
Maccagnan’s “last order of business” is signing quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, writes Steve Serby of the New York Post. With newfound cap space, the team could easily offer the signal-caller a one-year deal worth $12MM, which would allow Fitzpatrick to hit free agency again next offseason.
The Wilkerson extension was a “major victory” for Maccagnan, writes Brian Costello of the New York Post.
Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com was “stunned” by the extension, as he thought Wilkerson was the least likely of the extension candidates to sign a new deal. Of course, he also notes that the Jets still weren’t going to emerge as total winners, as the team could have saved about $3MM annually by signing Wilkerson a few years ago.

AFC East Notes: Jets, Harbor, Bills

June 19th, 2016 at 9:59am CST by Rory Parks

Jets GM Mike Maccagnan has frustrated and disappointed fans with his hard-line stance on the Ryan Fitzpatrick and Muhammad Wilkerson contract negotiations, but Rich Cimini of ESPN.com commends Maccagnan for at least being willing to take an unpopular position and hold his ground in a pragmatic way that suggests he has the club’s long-term interests at heart. Cimini adds that Maccagnan’s approach is a refreshing change of pace from that of predecessor Mike Tannenbaum, who often made decisions with an eye towards fan and media approval. Of course, now that Maccagnan has drawn a line in the sand, he cannot back down for fear of losing credibility in the agent community, but he also cannot afford to enter the season without Fitzpatrick and Wilkerson.

As we wait to see if Maccagnan can pull off this delicate balancing act, let’s check out a few more links from the AFC East:

In the same piece, Cimini says he would be surprised if Wilkerson reported to Jets training camp–after all, he’s not under contract, so he cannot be fined for missing camp–but he would also be surprised if the Pro Bowl defensive end missed any regular season games. Perhaps the two sides can work out a deal wherein Wilkerson agrees to play out the 2016 season for the amount of the franchise tender ($15.7MM), and the team agrees to not use the tag on him again in 2017.
In a separate article, Cimini reports that the mother of Jets rookie linebacker Darron Lee, Candice Lee, has quit her job as a reporter and weekend anchor for WCMH-TV in Columbus, Ohio, and will serve as Darron’s manager. She will devote her time to handling her son’s off-the-field affairs, including endorsements and marketing (of course, there is not yet any money to manage, as Lee is one of four 2016 first-round draft picks who have yet to sign their rookie contracts).
Now that Patriots No. 3 tight end Michael Williams suffered a season-ending ACL tear, free agent acquisition Clay Harbor becomes the favorite to assume that role, as Mike Reiss of ESPN.com writes. However, Reiss cautions that even though Harbor received a $400K signing bonus–which is significant for a player for Harbor’s caliber–he will still have to earn his spot on the field (after all, the team handed out a $450K signing bonus to Reggie Wayne last year, and Wayne’s tenure as a Patriot lasted all of two weeks).
Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com takes a look at the best and worst contracts on the Bills, and he concludes that the best contract is Tyrod Taylor‘s fairly modest pact, while the worst is Marcell Dareus‘ mega-deal that he signed last year. Fitzgerald goes into detail on both contracts, and the whole piece is well worth a read.

Draft Updates: Cowboys, Tunsil, Pats, Jets, Saints

April 30th, 2016 at 1:46pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Cowboys’ later-round selections have featured some interesting near-misses. Dallas has been linked to multiple players it did not end up selecting, including new Browns edge-rusher Emmanuel Ogbah, whom Cleveland chose in Round 2. The team also eyed Clemson defensive end Kevin Dodd, Tony Pauline of WalterFootball.com reports.

Even its own pick brought uncertainty after a report surfaced Friday that the team nearly unloaded its second-round pick to the Bears before taking Notre Dame injured star Jaylon Smith. Perhaps these pass-rushers going off the board contributed to the urge to wanting to trade down.

We heard Friday night the Cowboys are not going to re-sign Greg Hardy. This, coupled with the looming suspensions of Demarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory have left the team thin at defensive end despite signing former Eagles edge presence Cedric Thornton in free agency. It took Dallas until the fourth round to address this spot, when it took Charles Tapper from Oklahoma.

Here’s the latest from the draft.

The Saints traded up for the 120th pick, but according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (via Twitter), they didn’t get their selection in on time. This allowed the Vikings to jump the Saints, with Minnesota selecting offensive lineman Willie Beavers. New Orleans presumably still got their target in defensive tackle David Onyemata.
The Dolphins believe it was the former financial advisor of rookie Laremy Tunsil who released the incriminating gas mask video, tweets Andrew Abrasion of The Palm Beach Post. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the video caused Tunsil to drop from the sixth overall pick to No. 13.
Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan told Dom Cosentino of NJ.com that the team isn’t working to acquire another quarterback, including Nick Foles (Twitter link).
Pauline also notes the Patriots‘ collection of second- or third-round quarterback choices in the Tom Brady era could have included Wisconsin passer Joel Stave instead of the player they actually selected, Jacoby Brissett, in the third round. While neither was considered a top prospect, Brissett was mentioned as a mid- or late-round pick before the lesser-regarded Stave — a 6-foot-5 former Badger, who remains on the board. Stave threw for just 11 TDs last season for the run-oriented Badgers.
The Steelers are considering a trade to get into the fifth round, Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review tweets.

Ben Levine contributed to this report

Jets Unlikely To Trade Muhammad Wilkerson

April 28th, 2016 at 10:11pm CST by Dallas Robinson

It doesn’t appear that Jets franchise player Muhammad Wilkerson will be traded, as general manager Mike Maccagnan essentially confirmed tonight. “I would not envision that happening,” said Maccagnan (Twitter links via Brian Costello of the New York Post and Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News).

Wilkerson, 26, enjoyed his best season as a pro in 2015, racking up a career-high 12 sacks and forcing three fumbles, to go along with 64 tackles. Arguably the best defensive player for the Jets last season, Wilkerson also earned his first Pro Bowl berth. However, he broke his leg during New York’s regular-season finale, and while that injury isn’t expected to sideline him at all next season, it may have been a strike against his trade value.

After being franchised, Wilkerson is currently projected to earn a $15.701MM base salary in 2016. The Jets are comfortable enough with that sum for this season, but they are not looking to pay him that kind of salary on a long-term deal.

Wilkerson, who has not yet signed his franchise tender, is not expected to participate in the Jets’ voluntary offseason program. Even though he followed the same path as Josh Norman in that regard, GM Mike Maccagnan recently told reporters that he will not rescind Wilkerson’s franchise tag.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Jets Notes: Clady, Fitzpatrick, Bradford

April 23rd, 2016 at 2:22pm CST by Sam Robinson

Unlike their lengthy delay in adding a quarterback, the Jets moved swiftly to acquire Ryan Clady, doing so one day after D’Brickashaw Ferguson announced his intention to retire.

Clady represents a risk, having missed 36 regular-season and playoff games for the Broncos during their 2013 and 2015 Super Bowl seasons, respectively. But Jets GM Mike Maccagnan proclaimed that his new left tackle is “good to go,” per NJ.com’s Darryl Slater.

“I think, from a medical standpoint, he’s cleared to play. I think he was actually cleared earlier for full participation, back in January or December, according to the information I got from the Broncos,” Maccagnan told media, including Slater.”

Jets OTAs begin May 24, which is around a year after Clady tore his ACL on Day 1 of Denver’s OTAs in 2015. Maccagnan said the team will bring the 29-year-old Clady along slowly and that he was encouraged by how well Clady bounced back from the 2013 Lisfranc injury that sidelined him after Week 2. Clady earned his fourth Pro Bowl nod for his work in 2014, when he played all 17 Broncos games, but he wasn’t quite the dependable edge presence he was prior to his first significant injury. Pro Football Focus deemed it well off of Clady’s pace in 2011-12.

Here are some more Jets headlines as the draft nears.

While Clady represents a probable upgrade from what Ferguson showed in 2015, he’s not close to as reliable health-wise. And per Rich Cimini of ESPN.com, the former 2008 first-round pick is a stopgap solution, along with most of Gang Green’s front as presently constructed. Of the current projected starters — Clady, James Carpenter, Nick Mangold, Brian Winters and Breno Giacomini — only Carpenter looks like a potential long-term option up front, inciting Cimini to argue the Jets need to take an offensive lineman high, perhaps in Round 1, and have to exit the draft with two players who can serve as starters by 2017. The last time the Jets took a blocker that high was 2006, when they selected Ferguson and Mangold.
The Jets’ relentless back-and-forth offseason with Ryan Fitzpatrick makes the New York Daily News’ Manish Mehta wonder if the Jets are serious about making the playoffs in 2016. The sides remain at an impasse, with Fitzpatrick wanting franchise QB-level dollars (around $16MM AAV) and the Jets having not been connected to an offer in eight-figure-per-year territory. Mehta sees the free agent quarterback’s trip to a Rangers-Penguins playoff game with Mangold and Eric Decker, while Brian Hoyer was at the team’s facility, as evidence the Jets players see Fitzpatrick as their quarterback and that Maccagnan should move faster to re-sign him. “In a perfect world, we’d like to potentially compete for the playoffs,” Maccagnan told media. “I don’t necessarily view that as a benchmark of success or failure. The goal is not to just sort of mortgage the future. We haven’t sort of leveraged everything to try to make one big run.”
Cimini sees the Jets running out of patience in their Fitzpatrick negotiations, but they won’t budge before the draft, when the team possesses just six picks (two seventh-rounders are among them). The ESPN scribe also does not envision the Jets making a play for Sam Bradford, whom the Eagles owe an $11MM signing bonus even in a trade scenario, placing more emphasis on Gang Green’s willingness to pay up for the soon-to-be-34-year-old Fitzpatrick.

Jets Notes: Fitzpatrick, Wilkerson, Front Office

March 27th, 2016 at 11:07am CST by Ben Levine

The Jets seem to be in the news every offseason, and this year is certainly no exception. The team’s attempting to bring back quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, and they’re also trying to figure out what they should do with defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson, who was slapped with the franchise tag.

ESPN.com’s Rich Cimini compiled several Jets-related notes yesterday, and we’ve gathered some of the more interesting tidbits below…

Count Bills coach (and former Jets coach) Rex Ryan among those who hope Fitzpatrick doesn’t ultimately resign with New York. “I hope he goes somewhere else, I do,” Ryan said. “He’s tougher than hell. What’s lost in it is, he might have played poorly against us — it might have been a bad day (in Week 17) — but I think they won five straight with him and he was lighting it up, probably the most yards in the history of that franchise. We’ll see. Like I said, I hope they lose him.”
There’s little chance that the Jets will “tag-and-trade” Wilkerson. Acquiring teams wouldn’t only have to give up assets to acquire the defensive end, but they’d presumably have to re-sign him to a pricey contract.
While Wilkerson and the Jets attempt to negotiate a long-term deal, some officials wouldn’t be shocked if the Pro Bowler ends up holding out. In fact, some sources guessed Wilkerson could sit out the first several games of next season.
The Jets will certainly be eyeing the quarterback situation in San Francisco, as 49ers signal-caller Colin Kaepernick will see his $11.9MM salary become guaranteed later this week. If the quarterback ends up with the Broncos, the Jets may find themselves with leverage while negotiating with Fitzpatrick.
Coach Todd Bowles claimed that he and general manager Mike Maccagnan have mostly been on the same page this offseason. “We like certain players better than others, but we’re talking eggs and bacon or bacon and sausage,” he said. “We’re not talking big disagreements.”

Woody Johnson Talks 2015 Season, Bowles, Revis

January 30th, 2016 at 8:43am CST by Ben Levine

The Jets finished 2015 with 10 wins, making it the organization’s most successful season since 2010. Still, there was some disappointment surrounding the team after they blew a chance to make the playoffs in the season finale.

Owner Woody Johnson still hasn’t gotten over that loss, which was clear in his talk with Seth Walder of the New York Daily News. The whole interview is worth checking out, but we’ve grabbed some of the notable quotes below…

On the team’s season-ending loss to the Bills:

“When you lose a game of football, it’s never pleasant, I can tell you that. It’s a hard thing to live through. I wish we had completed a few more passes, or we could have won that easily.”

“Those things stay for a long time. Kind of indelible ink. But you’ve got to move on. Move forward, and learn from what happened in that game.”

On whether he was satisfied with his team’s 2015 performance:

“I don’t think as an owner you can ever be satisfied until you do win the Super Bowl. We haven’t had one for now, (let’s see) this is Super Bowl 50, that was Super Bowl III, so it’s been a while. Until we get there, we’re going to work as hard as we can.”

On Todd Bowles’ and Mike Maccagnan’s first seasons in New York:

“So far, so good…I like them. This is a refreshing start. The 10 (wins). We were in every game. Rebuilt the way we had to.”

On the offseason addition of Darrelle Revis:

“It’s always great to have somebody, a Hall of Famer-type player like Darrelle. So we’re very happy to have him. Both on the field and off the field, the leadership and the way he plays and just his presence for us.

“He played pretty well last year. He’s 1 or 2 in the league.”

East Rumors: Wentz, Eagles, Giants

January 28th, 2016 at 8:33pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Bills were the team North Dakota State quarterbacks coach Randy Hedberg recalled being the most enamored with Carson Wentz, staging several visits to the Fargo, N.D.-based Division I-FCS school to gauge the first-round prospect, Tyler Dunne of the Buffalo News reports.

Bills representatives attended several Bison practices and were a constant in North Dakota State’s football facility, Hedberg told Dunne, to look at the rare non-FBS first-round quarterback prospect. Dunne notes, however, that at this rate the fast-rising Wentz won’t be available when the Bills select at No. 19, as the 6’5″ signal-caller has impressed this week in Senior Bowl workouts.

Buffalo still has Tyrod Taylor and EJ Manuel under contract for 2016.

Here is the latest on the most unlikely top-tier quarterback prospect in a while and other news from around the Eastern divisions.

Even though the Jets are set to negotiate an extension with Ryan Fitzpatrick, Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News notes they are pondering first-round quarterbacks, with Wentz being the most intriguing. “Every NFL team probably goes into the draft — with maybe a few exceptions of people who have really well-established quarterbacks — looking at that position as a position of interest,” Jets GM Mike Maccagnan said. “We’ll be no different than them.” The Jets pick at No. 20.
The Eagles will meet with Steelers executive Brandon Hunt for a second interview Friday for their director of player personnel position, Philly.com’s Jeff McLane tweets. Steelers owner Art Rooney II gave the 35-year-old Hunt permission to interview with the eastern-Pennsylvania franchise. He’s already met with Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman.
Although Hunt is their only confirmed candidate, McLane reports former Browns VP of player personnel Morocco Brown is on the Eagles’ radar for this job. Eagles director of pro scouting Dwayne Joseph looms as an internal candidate, per McLane.
The Giants are planning to add Patriots linebackers coach Patrick Graham as their defensive line coach, Adam Caplan of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter). The 37-year-old Graham’s been with the Patriots since 2009 and prior to taking over the Pats’ linebackers in 2014, he supervised their defensive linemen in 2012-13.