New York Jets Rumors: Dee Milliner To Be Traded?

New York Jets Rumors: Could Dee Milliner Be On The Move?

The New York Jets have made plenty of headlines during the free agency period, finally spending the abundance of money that they have. In doing so, they revamped one of their weaker areas from last season in the defensive backfield. They remade the cornerback and safety positions, signing four potential starters.

They brought back former Jets Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie, while also former Cleveland Brown Buster Skrine. At safety, they signed Marcus Gilchrist, who spent the first four seasons of his career with the San Diego Chargers. All four players should step into prominent roles in the Jets defense, so where does that leave any holdovers from last season, namely 2013-first round pick Dee Milliner?

Milliner has had an up-and-down career with the Jets thus far to put it nicely. As the ninth overall pick in 2013, Milliner was anointed as the man that would replace Revis when he was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That never went exactly to plan, as Milliner struggled out of the gate, as any rookie cornerback normally does. He was benched as a rookie on a couple of occasions by Rex Ryan. That was much better than his sophomore season though, as Milliner’s second season in the NFL was cut short when he ruptured his achilles.

Injuries are nothing new for Milliner, who has now missed 16 games in two seasons in the NFL after undergoing five surgeries in his time with Alabama. With the new players the Jets now have in their secondary, could Milliner be someone the Jets decide to move?

According to the New York Daily News, Milliner has been the target of inquiries from other teams, gauging if he would be available in a trade. It is smart for any general manager to at least call and see what how the Jets feel about Milliner, as he would seemingly be had for cheap as his injuries and underwhelming pay would make it hard for the Jets to ask for much in return. Milliner was also a draft pick of the last regime, as the new one led by Mike Maccagnan has no ties to players held over from Ryan and Mike Tannenbaum.

As of now though, the Jets are not interested in moving the former first round pick. The plan is for him to come into the season and compete for fourth cornerback duties. Moving Milliner would not be a smart move at this point, as his value is as low as it can be, and the defense ran by new head coach Todd Bowles puts a premium on defensive backs; last season Bowles used a lineup with at least six defensive backs on the field for 619 snaps. So having as many healthy, capable bodies as possible at his disposal is a must for his defensive scheme to work.

The problem is that Milliner may not be healthy at the start of the season, as he could easily miss parts of training camp as he continues to rehab his injury. That should be more incentive for the Jets to hold onto him, as no team will trade much for a player that may not be able to help them right away.

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