The New York Jets probably never had an actual shot at signing Kirk Cousins, but the star quarterback led them to believe they were in the running. They call that the cost of doing business, and it sounds like it was extremely costly for the Jets.
Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reports that the Jets offered Cousins a guaranteed contract worth $30 million per year, which is $2 million more annually than the deal he agreed to with the Minnesota Vikings. Cousins’ agent, Mike McCartney, said Thursday that his client took “not even close” to the best offer on the table, which would seem to support what Mehta was told.
In his introductory press conference, Cousins spoke at length about how he explored Minnesota during Super Bowl week and started to get a sense that he could see himself playing there. While it now seems like he made up his mind more than a month ago, the Jets were still led to believe they had a solid chance at signing Cousins. Again, that’s business. However, Mehta notes that Cousins seemingly using the Jets as leverage crushed the team early in free agency.
Agents of non-quarterbacks told me Monday (after the “legal tampering” period commenced at noon) that the Jets were effectively paralyzed because of their uncertainty over whether or not they’d get Cousins. In short, the Jets couldn’t make firm commitments with most other free agents until they knew whether they’d have to allocate a sizeable amount of cash to Cousins.
What has apparently irritated the Jets even more is that McCartney also represents Josh McCown. Some with the Jets reportedly believe that part of McCartney’s plan in stringing New York along was to position things so the Jets missed out on other free quarterbacks while waiting for Cousins to make up his mind, leaving them with McCown as their best option. The Jets did end up re-signing McCown (you’ll never believe where he signed the actual contract), though they also brought in Teddy Bridgewater on a one-year deal.
All of that may sound like too diabolical of a scheme, but it would be very savvy of McCartney. Whatever the case, it appears the Jets still have not found their quarterback of the future. Perhaps they will finally strike gold at that position in a deep draft class.
