Holiday, what holiday? The New York Jets continued to make news on Labor Day, and we're here to provide some perspective:
Remember when ...: Four years ago on this day, the Jets welcomed back Darrelle Revis after his long and acrimonious holdout. The happiest guy in the building was Rex Ryan, who knew he needed a lockdown corner like Revis to have a championship-caliber defense. On Monday, Ryan's reinforcement was a journeyman named Phillip Adams, who will be playing for his fifth team in five years. Adams arrived one day after Leon McFadden, a waiver-wire pickup. The Jets, once known for their formidable cornerback play, have been reduced to sifting through the garbage dumpster. You have to feel for Ryan, who, regardless of what he says publicly, has to be freaking out. You can't control injuries, but injuries aren't the only reason for the current mess. They did a poor job in the offseason of addressing the needs at cornerback.
No mea culpa: I think we can all agree that signing Dimitri Patterson was a mistake, right? The Jets paid a $1 million signing bonus for a guy who practiced a couple of weeks, got hurt, went AWOL and ripped the organization publicly, saying it lied about his no-show. GM John Idzik, however, refuses to own it. No, sir. Asked if he regrets not signing a "legitimate" cornerback in free agency (a loaded question, to be sure), he replied, "I would call Dimitri Patterson a legitimate cornerback. That’s why we signed him. We liked the player. We interviewed the player. We don’t look back. There are no regrets. We’re in a people business and you can’t anticipate some of the things that might happen."
He said the same thing after firing Mike Goodson, another free-agent signing who had personal issues and went AWOL.Idzik is right, it's a people business. But if the people picking the people keep making mistakes, the owner eventually brings in new people to make those decisions. Got that, people?
Patterson explanation: Oh, by the way, is anybody buying Idzik's reasoning that Patterson's inflammatory statement had nothing to do with his release? Didn't think so.
Roster tinkering: Let's give credit where it's due. Idzik did some clever tinkering with the roster over the last 48 hours, waiting until Monday to release rookies Quincy Enunwa and Jeremiah George because he knows they're less likely to be claimed on waivers now that rosters are pretty much set. On Saturday, the Jets waived linebacker A.J. Edds, confident he'd clear waivers -- which he did. That enabled them to make the Edds-for-George swap, providing much-needed depth at inside linebacker. Look for George and Enunwa to be added to the practice squad, assuming they clear waivers.
Dwindling draft class: It looks like the Jets will go into the season with six of their 12 draft picks on the active roster -- Calvin Pryor, Jace Amaro, Jalen Saunders, Dakota Dozier, IK Enemkpali and Trevor Reilly. Two (Dexter McDougle and Shaq Evans) are on injured reserve and two (George and Enunwa) will be on the practice squad. They wanted to add Brandon Dixon to the practice squad, but he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That leaves Tajh Boyd, out in the cold.
Lucky seven? After claiming Walter Powell from the Arizona Cardinals, the Jets are back to seven wide receivers -- a head scratcher.