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Sources: Jets wanted to make draft-day play for former Tennessee RB Alvin Kamara, but Mike Maccagnan wasn’t willing to pay price
Mike Maccagnan ignored the steady drumbeat of a dynamic college player, who was there for the taking if only he went off script.
Nearly four months after dual-threat running back Alvin Kamara landed in New Orleans, a faction of people on One Jets Drive that wanted the former Tennessee star are still miffed by their general manager’s relatively passive approach, according to team insiders.
The bottom line: There were important people in the organization who wanted to make an aggressive play to draft the big-play back, but the final decision maker opted to take the safer, more deliberate route, sources said. The fortune-favors-the-bold crowd took a back seat to the draft-pick hoarder.
A team with no playmakers passed up on an opportunity to position themselves to draft a potential game-breaker, prompting folks in the building to shake their heads in disappointment and wonder aloud: What the heck are we doing?
I heard rumblings of some Jet people’s infatuation with Kamara earlier this offseason. Those whispers grew louder throughout the spring. Now, Kamara is making the Jets — and everyone else — look silly with a white-hot preseason sure to make Jets diehards throw their arms in the air for unofficially the 1,969th time.
The same three words have crossed everyone’s lips upon seeing Kamara, who has 10 touches for 118 total yards and a touchdown this preseason (with the starters): Oh my God.
The Saints traded away their 2018 second-round pick and 2017 seventh-round pick to the 49ers to draft Kamara in the third round (67th overall). Sean Payton & Co. kept their own two third-rounders in the 2017 draft. They made an aggressive play to go after a difference maker in a league driven by difference makers.
Sure, the Saints’ backfield already had a future Hall of Famer (Adrian Peterson) and another guy coming off a 1,000-yard season (Mark Ingram), but Payton didn’t care. He believed that the 5-10, 215-pound Kamara would fit their Joker role as a do-everything option in the Darren Sproles mold.
The Jets have a similar backfield makeup with one aging ball-carrier (Matt Forte) and another serviceable option (Bilal Powell). Neither one of those players has any guaranteed money due to them after this season. Make no mistake: There was room for Kamara, who would have provided an offensive jolt for a unit that has looked lost in the first two preseason games.
Other than quarterback, the Jets’ most glaring issue is a dearth of offensive game-breakers. Todd Bowles and offensive coordinator John Morton have put on a brave face, but they’re not fooling a soul: These Jets have no true difference makers.
Their top returning wide receiver is an undrafted second-year player with 42 career catches and 587 yards. Forte, saddled by a hamstring issue for weeks, will turn 32 this season. Powell is nice complementary piece.
But nobody on this offense instills fear in opposing defensive coordinators.
“I wouldn’t say we (don’t) have any difference makers,” Bowles said after his team managed a grand total of two field goals in their 16-6 preseason loss to the Lions. “We just have to play together. If we block the quarterback we’ll have a chance.”
The smart move would have been to make an aggressive play to get Kamara. Never mind that Kamara went off the board a few spots before the Jets were on the clock in the third round. Maccagnan & Co. ultimately made a trade with the Vikings from No. 70 overall to No. 79. (The Jets also picked up a fifth-rounder). That’s irrelevant.
Maccagnan needed to be proactive and move up to land Kamara given the positive vibes within the organization about this talented player.
The Saints managed to get the guy without having to give up a premium pick in this year’s draft for Pete’s sake. Maccagnan could have had Kamara and third-round wide receiver ArDarius Stewart, who was taken with the 79th overall pick. That would have been a pair of solid offensive building blocks.
If circumstances required that the Jets trade away their third-rounder in a package to move up for Kamara, then so be it. It still would have been a wiser move than standing pat.
Maccagnan has made some sound moves in his first two-plus seasons, but this was a mistake that he might regret for a long time.
The Jets drafted Elijah McGuire in the sixth round, but he’s not at the same level as Kamara. McGuire has shown promising moments in training camp, but Kamara offers an altogether different play-making dimension that the Jets desperately could have used. That’s why folks in the organization who wanted him aren’t exactly pleased at the moment.
Consider: McGuire has gained 22 total yards on 11 touches on 29 snaps in two preseason games.
Kamara has three plays of at least 22 yards in 21 snaps with the starters this preseason. Four of Kamara’s 10 touches have gone for more than 10 yards. He’s averaging 10.7 yards per carry and ran for a 50-yard touchdown (against a first-team defense). He’s even returned a couple punts.
Nobody’s obviously fitting Kamara for a gold jacket, but he’s been everything as advertised to this point: Fast, elusive and dynamic.
You think the Jets could have used someone like this?
Mike Maccagnan ignored the steady drumbeat of a dynamic college player, who was there for the taking if only he went off script.
Nearly four months after dual-threat running back Alvin Kamara landed in New Orleans, a faction of people on One Jets Drive that wanted the former Tennessee star are still miffed by their general manager’s relatively passive approach, according to team insiders.
The bottom line: There were important people in the organization who wanted to make an aggressive play to draft the big-play back, but the final decision maker opted to take the safer, more deliberate route, sources said. The fortune-favors-the-bold crowd took a back seat to the draft-pick hoarder.
A team with no playmakers passed up on an opportunity to position themselves to draft a potential game-breaker, prompting folks in the building to shake their heads in disappointment and wonder aloud: What the heck are we doing?
I heard rumblings of some Jet people’s infatuation with Kamara earlier this offseason. Those whispers grew louder throughout the spring. Now, Kamara is making the Jets — and everyone else — look silly with a white-hot preseason sure to make Jets diehards throw their arms in the air for unofficially the 1,969th time.
The same three words have crossed everyone’s lips upon seeing Kamara, who has 10 touches for 118 total yards and a touchdown this preseason (with the starters): Oh my God.
The Saints traded away their 2018 second-round pick and 2017 seventh-round pick to the 49ers to draft Kamara in the third round (67th overall). Sean Payton & Co. kept their own two third-rounders in the 2017 draft. They made an aggressive play to go after a difference maker in a league driven by difference makers.
Sure, the Saints’ backfield already had a future Hall of Famer (Adrian Peterson) and another guy coming off a 1,000-yard season (Mark Ingram), but Payton didn’t care. He believed that the 5-10, 215-pound Kamara would fit their Joker role as a do-everything option in the Darren Sproles mold.
The Jets have a similar backfield makeup with one aging ball-carrier (Matt Forte) and another serviceable option (Bilal Powell). Neither one of those players has any guaranteed money due to them after this season. Make no mistake: There was room for Kamara, who would have provided an offensive jolt for a unit that has looked lost in the first two preseason games.
Other than quarterback, the Jets’ most glaring issue is a dearth of offensive game-breakers. Todd Bowles and offensive coordinator John Morton have put on a brave face, but they’re not fooling a soul: These Jets have no true difference makers.
Their top returning wide receiver is an undrafted second-year player with 42 career catches and 587 yards. Forte, saddled by a hamstring issue for weeks, will turn 32 this season. Powell is nice complementary piece.
But nobody on this offense instills fear in opposing defensive coordinators.
“I wouldn’t say we (don’t) have any difference makers,” Bowles said after his team managed a grand total of two field goals in their 16-6 preseason loss to the Lions. “We just have to play together. If we block the quarterback we’ll have a chance.”
The smart move would have been to make an aggressive play to get Kamara. Never mind that Kamara went off the board a few spots before the Jets were on the clock in the third round. Maccagnan & Co. ultimately made a trade with the Vikings from No. 70 overall to No. 79. (The Jets also picked up a fifth-rounder). That’s irrelevant.
Maccagnan needed to be proactive and move up to land Kamara given the positive vibes within the organization about this talented player.
The Saints managed to get the guy without having to give up a premium pick in this year’s draft for Pete’s sake. Maccagnan could have had Kamara and third-round wide receiver ArDarius Stewart, who was taken with the 79th overall pick. That would have been a pair of solid offensive building blocks.
If circumstances required that the Jets trade away their third-rounder in a package to move up for Kamara, then so be it. It still would have been a wiser move than standing pat.
Maccagnan has made some sound moves in his first two-plus seasons, but this was a mistake that he might regret for a long time.
The Jets drafted Elijah McGuire in the sixth round, but he’s not at the same level as Kamara. McGuire has shown promising moments in training camp, but Kamara offers an altogether different play-making dimension that the Jets desperately could have used. That’s why folks in the organization who wanted him aren’t exactly pleased at the moment.
Consider: McGuire has gained 22 total yards on 11 touches on 29 snaps in two preseason games.
Kamara has three plays of at least 22 yards in 21 snaps with the starters this preseason. Four of Kamara’s 10 touches have gone for more than 10 yards. He’s averaging 10.7 yards per carry and ran for a 50-yard touchdown (against a first-team defense). He’s even returned a couple punts.
Nobody’s obviously fitting Kamara for a gold jacket, but he’s been everything as advertised to this point: Fast, elusive and dynamic.
You think the Jets could have used someone like this?
