Finally Dee Milliner Puts Jets Out of their Misery
The New York Jets didn’t pick up the 5th year option for cornerback Dee Milliner. The CB that was supposed to be the heir to Darrelle Revis, the greatest corner the Jets have ever had, who was traded away for a 2013 draft pick. Milliner was drafted in 2013 and never was even half as productive as Revis. Now, the Jets are left still searching for another young cornerback.
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Dee Milliner’s injuries, not performance, behind New York Jets’ contract decision | AL.com The New York Jets declined their option for a fifth year on cornerback Dee Milliner’s contract not because of the way the former Alabama All-American has played, but the way he hasn’t. |
| Source: www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2016/05/dee_milliners_injuries_not_per.html | |
It’s unfortunate that this happened to Milliner. The pressure of replacing Revis might have been too much psychologically and physically. He has struggled with injuries in his first 3 seasons with the Jets (Achilles tendon tear, wrist tendon tear and other minor injuries) playing in just 21 of 48 games. Even though I thought he had sufficient talent to be a suitable replacement for Revis (but not talented enough to be an “island”) I unfortunately never got to see it. Milliner just couldn’t stay on the field.
Exercising his option was risky because there is no guarantee that he will be able to play a complete season since he hasn’t so far. The $11.913 million is too much of a price to pay him in 2017. Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan is smart to not have gambled on such a costly risk. I’m still can’t grade Maccagnan’s tenure as the Jets GM but this definitely gives him points.
On the other hand, as the 9th overall pick out of Alabama in 2013, the Milliner draft pick was a dud by former GM John Idzik. This just adds to the list of questionable decisions made a guy who never had previous GM experience. Could he not see that Milliner might be an injury prone player? Milliner required shoulder surgery prior to the 2013 draft. Looking back on Idzik I can only assume that he just wasn’t prepared to evaluate talent.
Once again, this will go down as another failed draft pick by the Jets.
