New York Jets: The Robby Anderson arrest and the reflection on team culture

There are some issues within the culture of the New York Jets.

Todd Bowles and Mike Maccagnan are back for another year with the New York Jets. We debated it back and forth for a long time. Whether you are happy about it or not, it’s what happened so we have to move along from that point. They are back for at least one more year. It won’t be longer than that if it goes badly again. The regime is already 1-2 in good seasons vs. bad, one more in the loss column will end it.

The recent news, however, is a little bit troubling. Robby Anderson was arrested for the second time in less than a year (via NJ.com). He is up against nine charges including resisting arrest, reckless driving and felony fleeing. The team is aware of the situation and will not comment while it is a pending legal matter.

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We can talk about the immaturity of young players every day of the week if we want. It’s a fair point as more of the mistakes are made by younger players. The guys first entering the league come into money they have never seen before and they make bad decisions.

But with the Jets there is an additional factor. Under Bowles this is not the first time. We already said that this was Anderson‘s second arrest. The Sheldon Richardson issues occurred after the team had been turned over to Todd Bowles. The fight involving Geno Smith happened. All of the locker room turmoil from 2016 happened.

Don’t forget about the Muhammad Wilkerson situation. There is a common theme to all of it

All of it occurred under the current regime.

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Now, players have been disciplined and some have even been removed. Nobody is saying that the organization has not “handled” these players. All responses have been at least somewhat appropriate. The issue is the fact that they are happening in the first place. That is what must be addressed quickly.

Some of these players seem to think it’s acceptable to misbehave. It happened in 2015 yet others didn’t get the hint. It’s still happening. Wilkerson did it multiple times. Anderson has now done it multiple times. That falls back on the leader. If they can’t fix it quickly, it will harm their ability to return in 2019.

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