As we draw closer to a labor agreement, we also get closer to free agency and that means it is time to start discussing who will land where when the league gets back to business.
The Jets will likely be one of the busiest teams once that day comes. Not only are they annually active buyers, this year also finds them with several free agents of their own. Antonio Cromartie, Braylon Edwards, Santonio Holmes and Brad Smith highlight the list and Jason LaCanfora of NFL.com is hearing that Holmes will be the first guy they try to keep in the fold.
“From everything I’ve heard, he will be a priority. Look at what they’ve done in recent years with D’Brickshaw Ferguson, Nick Mangold, stepping up for Darrelle Revis. They’ve done everything possible to keep their young core. … I think Holmes stays in New York”
LaCanfora isn’t the first guy to indicate Holmes is the number one priority for the Jets and there’s good reason to believe that all this smoke is coming from a real fire. Holmes is a more versatile receiver than Edwards, he’s more consistent and is a year younger. Holmes had 52 catches for 746 yards and six touchdowns in 12 games for the Jets in 2010. He missed the first four games because of a drug suspension and added nine more catches for 127 yards and two scores during their run to the AFC Championship Game.
Thanks to the deals in place for Ferguson, Mangold and Revis, as well as the franchise tag hung around David Harris’s neck, the Jets likely won’t have enough cap space to ink all their free agents. Smith has seen the writing on the wall and it would seem that Cromartie would be the team’s second biggest priority, which should leave Edwards looking for work elsewhere once we finally get football back.