As many of you know, there’s a guy on Twitter named “Incarcerated Bob,” who from time to time has what turns out to be accurate inside information about the Jets.
This time around, Bob claims that the Jets will cut receiver Braylon Edwards before Sunday. Unfortunately, this time Bob is not only incarcerated -- he’s also incorrect.
A source with knowledge of the situation tells us that it’s “not happening.”
It makes sense. By not deactivating Edwards for Sunday’s game, the Jets implicitly acknowledge that they need him. And if the notion that they didn’t bench him for Sunday because of concerns that they’d be running afoul of the labor deal by disciplining Edwards unilaterally, cutting him after the DUI arrest would fall into the same category -- and it likely would require the Jets to pay the balance of his 2010 salary. (Of course, since he’s a vested veteran he’d be entitled to his 15 remaining game checks -- 14 plus the bye week -- anyway.)
Meanwhile, some of you have raised a valid point regarding the inconsistency that has arisen following the Edwards arrest. Multiple members of the Jets’ next opponent, the Dolphins, were arrested in the offseason. Running back Ronnie Brown and cornerback Will Allen were arrested for DUI, and defensive end Philip Merling was arrested for allegedly beating up his pregnant girlfriend. Defensive end Tony McDaniel was arrested for misdemeanor battery. But yet there was no national outcry that these men immediately should be disciplined by the team.
We see two reasons for this. First, when arrests occur during the season, it’s far easier and obvious to argue that the player should be benched for the next game. Second, the criticism of the Jets constitutes a natural consequence of the attention that the Jets have sought. With attention comes scrutiny; teams that strive to stay under the radar have a better shot at avoiding the kind of intense focus that will apply to everything the Jets do.
It doesn’t make it right, but it explains the inconsistency.