Bowles comments on Coples release from NYJets.com:
www.newyorkjets.com/news/article-ra...-Release/a0499e64-9494-49e5-9c09-18bf7efb9832
Todd Bowles said the waiving of linebacker Quinton Coples, the 16th overall pick of the 2012 NFL Draft, was based on the numbers game that football sometimes is.
Coples, the Jets head coach told reporters on a conference call this afternoon, "just wasn't playing. I was trying to get a spot [for him] earlier and we didn't have a spot. We weren't playing him, he hasn't been getting any time. It's just a business move. It was nothing personal."
Specifically, Bowles said there were no issues between Coples and him or any other coaches that led to the release: "Absolutely not."
He also said there was no message to the team wrapped up in a transaction involving a former No. 1 pick after the Jets lost for the fourth time in five games to the Texans in Houston on Sunday.
"We're not trying to send a message," he said. "We're just trying to play good football players and we're trying to play guys that want to play and are ready to play. And obviously along the way, whether we're winning or losing, we still have to make business decisions, and that was just one of them."
Bowles said it was not a case of Coples not being ready to play as much as him being involved in the business decision. The coach wouldn't discuss an imminent course of action but he did confirm that he and general manager Mike Maccagnan "have something in mind" regarding the roster spot that's now opened. "I'm not going to divulge that at this time," he said, "but we do have something that we're looking at."