Kwon & Cook
Edition #423
Good morning!
Welcome to the weekend Jets fans. I will keep the newsletter short and sweet today as I have some family arriving from New Zealand, and this really is the quiet before the storm.
Next week we will have a little break as yours truly is celebrating his birthday and spending quality time with the family before football season (NFL and European) consumes me until next May.
We’ll still have some newsletters next week, but they won’t be daily. Then, from the 17th we’ll be full-go as that’s report week for camp and I’m hoping we’ll have a Quinnen Williams contract to talk about.
According to Albert Breer, there is a ‘good chance’ that Cook becomes a Jet, this was also backed up by some tweets that Cook liked.
We've been through this a few times and I’m still undecided on Cook. The advanced metrics on RB decline indicate it would be a poor signing, but I don’t think you can judge a signing until you see the contract numbers.
If Cook comes in on a $10 million contract then that’s a questionable decision. If Joe Douglas gets him on a $5 million contract, or around that number, then I think I can get on board.
We can look at all the advanced numbers we like, the simple fact is he is coming off four consecutive 1000-yard seasons and that doesn’t happen by accident.
Has he lost a step or two? Sure. Can he still do a job for the Jets while Breece Hall returns from his ACL injury? Absolutely.
The Jets don’t want to rush Breece back and risk him sustaining another serious injury. They see Breece as the bell cow for the next 5 years, and it would be smart to ease him back in.
I don’t think Breece will get over 10 touches in a game for the first month of the season.
I tweeted a workout video of Kwon Alexader yesterday which he kindly shared on his Twitter, the man is looking fast.
I’m still absolutely convinced that the Jets will get a deal done, the more research you do into his performance last year, the more you realise how important he was to the team’s success.
I shared this graph yesterday, but I think it’s worth sharing again today, which shows that Kwon was an impact player when on the field and the Jet’s defence as a whole performed at a higher standard when he was in.
I have been trying to dig up some information on the status of any potential deal, but everyone (on both sides) is staying quiet.
My read is that the Jets have a number and Rosenhaus Sports (his reps) have that number to hand. They probably think they can get a little more if an injury was to occur in camp, so they’re just holding out for now.
Although you want every single player to be in camp from day one, you feel more comfortable adding someone like Kwon down the line due to him knowing the defence.
My guess? This deal gets done around the 2nd week of training camp.
I realised I forgot to add my Friday music last week, and I’m sure you were all absolutely devastated about that.
This week I’m changing genres again and hitting a bit of country.
Have a great weekend everyone. Only one more week and then it’s training camp.
While we know it’s always about the money. In Kwon’s case, it could also be that the Jets want to see how Sherwood and Barnes do when the hitting starts. If Sherwood has progressed enough for Saleh’s liking then Kwon won’t need to be signed.
While it’s always about the money, in the NFL world it’s also about the cap. If Sherwood has advanced enough to supplant Kwon, it definitely would give the Jets a little more cap relief.
Cook is a totally different case. If Breece is really not 100% come September, then a veteran running back could be signed. Fournette would be almost an equally good pickup, maybe Hunt if he hasn’t lost much.
The problem with Cook is if the Jets don’t sign him then the Jets will be facing him twice a year as a Fin or a Pat. If Cook has lost a little, it could be lived with, if he is still as formidable as ever, he would become a problem.
Signing Cook would basically fit two Jet needs. Make themselves stronger plus stopping a division opponent from getting stronger
David, an early Happy Birthday 🎂or a few 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍷🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
Thank you for giving us our Jet fix every morning
I have mixed feelings about the Jets signing one of Cook or Fournette. If they do, that will mean less reps for Knight, Carter and Abanikanda and that probably one of them will get traded or released. Knight has a lot of potential and I think it would be a mistake to let him go. CarterI could bounce back and have an excellent season. I would prefer for the Jets to see how they do in TC in Hackett's offense and with supposedly better OL play. That said, if they are seriously thinking about signing Cook or Fournette, then the sooner they do it, the better in terms of their learning Hackett's system and developing timing and chemistry with Rodgers and the OL.
If they are planning on signing a veteran RB, I still favor signing Fournette over Cook, as I think he can be signed cheaper than Cook, and he depends less upon speed than Cook, and may have lost less than Cook at this point in his career. He's a great receiver out of the backfield and probably a better blocker in pass protection than Cook. Fournette has more receiving yards and receiving TDs in his six-year NFL career than Cook (2,219 & 7) vs (1,794 and 5), but Cook averages almost 1 ypr more than Fournette (8 ypr vs 7.3) and Cook has fewer receptions (221 vs. 312). Cook does have more rushing yards, more rushing TDs, and a higher ypc average than Fournette.
I've seen at least a couple of Jets players saying they'd love to see the Jets bring in Cook, but haven't seen any saying the same about Fournette. I don't know if that would have any impact on morale or the lockerroom, but hopefully it wouldn't either way.
I hope that they aren't even thinking about signing Hunt. He's lost more than Cook and has character issues.
I'm glad that you're going to take some time off next week to be with your newborn, your family from NZ, re-charge your batteries and to celebrate your birthday. Hope you have an awesome birthday celebration!