My Favourite Jets: #5

Edition #174

🌟 Good morning.

I’m actually not here. Well technically I’m here, but I’m actually in Spain with the family enjoying a little sun, sand, and sangria.

My plan this week was to not have any TJW newsletters, to take a break before training camp and the season, but instead, I decided to pre-write 5 newsletters, each one dedicated to one of my favorite Jets of all time.

If any major news breaks this week, unfortunately, I won’t get to it until the 18th when I arrive back, but I at least wanted to share some thoughts while I was away.

Don Maynard

Disclaimer: I never saw a single snap of Don Maynard’s Jets career live. In fact, his final season with the Jets in 1972 occurred 16 years before I was born. I can’t really explain why I love Don Maynard so much, but it started around 2010 when as a member of SB Nation I was sent a copy of his book ‘You Can't Catch Sunshine’ to review, and to this day it is perhaps my favorite Jets related book of all time.

I think one thing I love about Maynard and his Jets journey is that it could have been so different, and it could have been the Giants celebrating one of the very best wide receivers to play the game.

Maynard was a receiver at Texas Western and was originally drafted by the New York Giants in 1957 in the 9th round. He only lasted a couple of years in New York before being released during training camp in 1959, he signed on with the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats but only caught a single pass…after spending the off-season as a plumber and teacher, you wouldn’t have been surprised if that was the end of his football journey.

Instead, he became the first player to ever sign with the New York Titans in 1960, Titans head coach Sammy Baugh had coached against Maynard in college and knew that there was more to him than the world had seen to that point. Maynard formed the first dynamic receiving duo with Art Powell with the pair being the first teammates to both record 1000 receiving yards in a season.

Over the course of his career, he recorded 633 receptions for 11,834 yards and 88 touchdowns ending in the pro football hall of fame, not bad for an “NFL reject” as the New York press called him when he first signed on with the Titans.

I remember reading some interviews with Namath about Maynard and how they had an almost psychic understanding, they obviously had route concepts but every concept had a variation and that variation was always a go-route. So if Maynard was running a slant but it wasn’t there, his next port of call was to just go…knowing he was faster than most defensive backs and Namath had the arm to get him the ball wherever he was on the field, looking at his yearly stats in a running era is mind-boggling now:

Maynard was targeted 5 times in the Super Bowl but he failed to record a single catch…but his presence alone gave the Jets the advantage that they needed. The Colts dedicated significant resources to stopping Maynard, unaware that he was hobbled and carrying an injury. They dedicated so much to stopping Maynard they forgot about George Sauer Jr., who caught 8 of his 12 targets for 133 yards. The Colts had seen Maynard destroy the Oakland Raiders in the AFL championship game catching six passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns, so without knowing he was injured who can blame them for the game plan they developed.

Maynard passed Raymond Berry’s career record of 631 receptions in the 13th game of his 13th season…wearing of course, number 13. That number had always been important to Don, he printed it on his cowboy boots when he arrived in New York to play with the Giants, he was once asked what would have happened if the Giants hadn’t given him the #13 and he simply said he guessed he wouldn’t have played for them.

It’s sad that his career came to an end with the Jets in the manner it did, Maynard thought he was underpaid, and let’s be completely honest, he was. He held out for more money in the summer and instead of finding a solution for a Jets legend, when Maynard turned up to camp with grey twinges to his famous sideburns, Jets’ Coach Weeb Ewbank traded him to the St Louis Cardinals for a future draft pick. Earlier that summer Weeb had been full of praise for Don:

"Maynard is one of those lean and hungry Texans who can run forever," says Jet Coach Weeb Ewbank. "Normally you'd think a guy his age would be all done, but he keeps himself in shape; no one knows his own body quite as well as Don. He still has fine hands and excellent speed. As a pass catcher he's lost none of his skills." Then Ewbank concludes his assessment with another hint of why Maynard may still be around when the season opens. "The only time we get on Don is when he seems reluctant to block on a running play," he says. "We don't expect that he'll be able to bruise anyone, but we do want him to at least molest people."

Maynard was one of only 7 AFL players to play all 10 years of the league with the same club, he was one of only 20 players who played every single year the AFL was in existence. He never wore a chin strap on his helmet which was rare in the 60s, instead opting for a modified helmet with cheek inserts that held it in place. He has always been a Jets legend and he’s been a big favorite of mine for some time.