New York Jets: Go after Antonio Brown within reason

It isn’t often that a player like Antonio Brown is available, even for a trade. The New York Jets should look into it, but stay within reason.

The New York Jets are in a unique position. They are sitting with a whole lot of money to spend and can finally advertise themselves as a team with a quarterback. That quarterback is on his rookie contract, continuing to leave the team with financial flexibility.

There has been a lot of talk about Le’Veon Bell and how the Jets should go hard after him. As a free agent, all that takes is money so making the case isn’t necessarily so hard. The Jets can add Bell to the fold with creative use of the checkbook.

Antonio Brown is a big topic of conversation, and he is a different story. Brown has requested a trade from the Pittsburgh Steelers and after meeting with ownership, there has been mutual agreement that it is time to move on.

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The debate is obviously whether or not the Jets should make a play here.

Should the Jets make an offer to acquire Antonio Brown? The answer is absolutely, but they must do it within reason.

Antonio Brown’s talent is undeniable. He has posted over 100 receptions in each of the last six seasons.

During that time, he has averaged over 11 touchdowns per season, including a league-leading 15 in 2018.

Brown is an uber-talented wide receiver and would do wonders for Sam Darnold. The more weapons the Jets can put out there, the more comfortable Darnold will be.

The contracts also work out well. Darnold becomes a free agent in 2022 if the team doesn’t pick up his fifth year option, 2023 if they do. Brown becomes a free agent in 2022.

What does that mean? It means that the Jets could pay Brown before they have to pay Darnold. We talked about financial flexibility earlier and this is exactly what I am talking about. They can bring in a big star and it won’t have a long-term effect on the ability to pay other players.

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The issue is the fact that he must be acquired via trade. It’s more than money, they have to give up the right price to Pittsburgh to get him. So, what do they do?

Gang Green needs to fill a lot of holes. Everybody who follows this team knows this. It’s not going to take one or two players. Thanks to the recent failures, it is going to take a lot of players.

The Jets don’t have a second round pick. Building the infrastructure of this roster will happen by retaining and acquiring draft picks, not giving them away if they can avoid it.

So giving up the farm for this guy is a bad idea. He may have some locker room issues, depending upon who you talk to, so that adds to the fact that they shouldn’t overpay for this move.

If they can do it for say, one of their two third round picks they should jump at the chance. That minimizes the reduction in draft capital. Maybe somebody wants to make a trade for the number three overall pick and give the Jets a second round along with their first. Who knows? That would make the cap hit even easier to take.

The Jets should absolutely go after Brown. It’s time to win games and forget about the culture issue. Problems can be swept away with wins. The Steelers did it.

Just don’t overpay. The Jets have more problems than just wide receiver.

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