Screw You Manish Mehta!

The Ron Borges of the Jets' world seems to be sucking up to the Jets' base to win them back by writing a hack piece on the fact that the league investigated the Jets' offices on March 8th. To save you from clicking on the link, I will post the key points:

The league sent an investigator to the Jets facility in Florham Park, N.J., on Sunday, March 8, during the three-day “legal tampering” window before the official start of free agency to interrogate general manager Mike Maccagnan and front office personnel about the pursuit of Revis, according to sources.

Owner Woody Johnson was not interviewed.

The NFL’s attempt to uncover any dirt was an exercise in futility, a witch hunt driven by nonsense from a hypocritical organization with no reason to feel threatened by its competitor.

The Patriots levied a tampering charge against their division foes shortly after Johnson’s public admission on Dec. 29 that he’d “love for Darrelle to come back,” prompting many to wonder how serious the NFL would consider the complaint.

The Patriots, of course, have been the model of fair play (SpyGate), rule-abiding negotiations (landing Revis in record time after the Buccaneers cut him) and trustworthy pre-game equipment management (DeflateGate), so they naturally had every right to be concerned about the integrity of this situation.

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First Manish, who knows if the League investigated the Jets on the Pats request or possibly the fact you posted the Jets' contract offer on Twitter a full day before Revis was released. From his Twitter account a day before the Jets could legally talk to Revis:

What will it take to pry Revis away from Pats? $48M over first 3 yrs ($40M fully guaranteed)

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https://twitter.com/MMehtaNYDN/status/575264683030102016

Now that was posted a day BEFORE Revis was a free agent and he signed with the Jets for $48 million over the first three years and $39 million fully guaranteed. Either Mehta is Nostradamaus or he was fed information by the Jets. Yet he is questioning the Pats' character.

Second, Deflategate right now is a nothing more than allegation that we have no idea has any truth.

The Jets had the financial resources ($39 million in fully guaranteed money) and the locale (Manhattan > middle of nowhere, Mass.) that appealed to Revis.

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The Jets' facilities are not much closer to Manhattan than either Boston or Providence. Sure you can argue the differences between NYC and Boston or Providence, but he acts like Foxboro is in Springfield.

Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick, who didn’t have the cash to keep the cornerstone of the Super Bowl-winning defense, have accomplished too much to use a silly league rule to wage an even sillier war.

Sure, Johnson should have refrained from his public praise for Revis, but Kraft and Belichick have been far from choir boys when it comes to this player.

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Silly league rule?!? You mean like crying to the league about the Pats videoing something that was in plain view to 80,000 people in the Meadowlands that day?

Think about how Revis arrived in Foxborough in the first place.

The Buccaneers officially released Revis at 3:53 p.m. EDT on March 12, 2014. Less than five hours later — 8:23 pm EDT — the Patriots amazingly agreed to terms on a contract with the star cornerback. Who knew that Kraft and Belichick could broker a deal for a player with so many options in warp speed?

Is it possible that they negotiated the parameters of a deal with Team Revis while the cornerback was still under contract with the Buccaneers? No chance! The Patriots would never engage in such questionable tactics (insert eye roll here).

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First, Jason Lycht, the Bucs' GM, is a Belichick disciple. He may have given the Pats' permission to speak to Revis.

Second, it was widely reported he didn't turn to the Patriots until the Jets turned him down. So another case of the Jets tampering.

Third, yes the league looks the other way on tampering, but they do punish people who do it stupidly. If the Pats tampered, they did it the way the league looks the other way. The Jets did it stupidly.


http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/mehta-petty-patriots-wrong-nfl-jets-revis-article-1.2156249?utm_content=bufferfbec0&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=mmehta twitter

Sounds like there might be a significant punishment coming for the Jets for tampering (and no not their first rounder unless they found evidence of tampering on the 8th) and they are going on the offensive to make the story the Patriots are being petty rather than them actually tampering with with Revis.

Mehta is just covering his ass because he was part of the Jets plan to get Revis back. As you said, he had the contract numbers while Revis was still a Patriot(I wonder how that might be...). Of course he wants to make this whole thing a non-issue, because he was a part of it.

at least Florio puts it in proper perspective

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...s-visited-jets-facility-over-revis-tampering/

Regardless of the lingering Jets-Patriots homage to the Hatfields and the McCoys, Johnson committed a clear and blatant violation of the tampering rules by telling the media that his team would “love” to bring back a guy who at the time was the exclusive property of another team. While Johnson (as Mehta notes) was simply answering a direct question, the answer to that direct question should have been, “I can’t comment on players under contract with other teams.”

The anti-tampering policy makes it obvious that Johnson crossed the line. Although tampering happens all the time in the NFL, the league tends only to punish those who are caught with one hand pressed to the bottom of cookie jar — and with the other hand firing off a middle finger to 345 Park Avenue.

In this specific case, the full body of evidence includes a March 3 report from Mehta that Johnson was leaning heavily on his front-office staff to bring Revis back. Mehta’s source, undoubtedly a member of the team’s front office, committed a separate violation of the tampering rules by leaking the information to the media, since it had the clear impact of making it known to the football-following world that the Jets were indeed in play for Revis at a time when only the Patriots should have been talking to Revis. While the NFL has no jurisdiction over Mehta, the questioning that occurred at team headquarters on March 8 surely extended to Mehta’s story from March 3.

Meanwhile, the fact that the Jets gave Revis $39 million fully guaranteed over three years could give the NFL separate motivation to punish the Jets. There’s a belief that the NFL doesn’t want teams to fully guarantee contracts beyond the first year or two, a belief reinforced by the outdated, blanket requirement that all contract with full guarantees in future years be fully funded at signing.

The Jets willingly put the money aside for Revis, which could make the NFL even more willing to impose some sort of a sanction on the Jets for tampering with Revis.

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So let me get this straight:

NFL suspects Patriots of wrong-doing. Don't let them know. Send goon league official to ensnare them in a trap.

NFL suspects Jets of wrong-doing. Send league official to babysit them so they can't do something they'd need to punish them for.

Got it.

Heard a week ago there is a great chance #Patriots get a 2016 draft pick for Jets tampering with Revis.

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https://twitter.com/NEPD_Loyko/status/578902168998117377

As an "in the know" guy, I'm a tad sceptical with Mike Loyko pronouncements -- but if true, we're building up a bucket load of 2016 picks.

IllegalContact said:

at least Florio puts it in proper perspective

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...s-visited-jets-facility-over-revis-tampering/

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Tampering is Florio's pet project. He has been vocal about how the league looking the other way about tampering for years. Unfortunately only he and Tom Curran in the media actually think tampering is a bigger deal than people make it out to be.

Good work by the Jets brass to give Mehta leaks in return for a more positive spin on stories. Idzik should have thought of that, because Mehta was bashing him every chance he had last season.

Rob0729 said:

Tampering is Florio's pet project. He has been vocal about how the league looking the other way about tampering for years. Unfortunately only he and Tom Curran in the media actually think tampering is a bigger deal than people make it out to be.

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I am sure the pats front office will continue to bang this drum to the league......the pats will likely benefit in the end

manxman2601 said:

https://twitter.com/NEPD_Loyko/status/578902168998117377

As an "in the know" guy, I'm a tad sceptical with Mike Loyko pronouncements but if true, we're building up a bucket load of 2016 picks.

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Based on Goodell's history, the Pats are in line to get a Jets' draft pick for tampering. That is almost a given. Depending what the investigators found on March 8th or any time while Revis was under contract with the Pats of contact with Revis (if they found any), that draft pick could be a low mid rounder up to the #6 overall. To get the first, there would need to be hard evidence of the Jets contacting Revis before he became a free agent.

Interesting tidbit from @NEPD_Loyko

https://twitter.com/NEPD_Loyko/status/578902168998117377

"Heard a week ago there is a great chance #Patriots get a 2016 draft pick for Jets tampering with Revis"

manxman2601 said:

https://twitter.com/NEPD_Loyko/status/578902168998117377

As an "in the know" guy, I'm a tad sceptical with Mike Loyko pronouncements but if true, we're building up a bucket load of 2016 picks.

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I guess the most notable thing if Loyko is correct is that we're talking about a 2016 pick rather than the 2015 #6 pipe dream. Of course, most people will have forgotten about all this by the 2016 draft anyway and it's not a good look of a highly picked player will always be linked to this controversy.

Note, I didn't see it was a 2016 draft pick when I responded. This might add weight that it will be a first rounder. Goodell may be too gun shy to take away the sixth overall pick this year and give it to a team under investigation cheating in another matter and think this is the safe way to get around it while sending a message to teams about tampering. The argument would be that it is a first a year later and it is likely to be a lower draft pick.

I hope he wore kneepads while writing that...

Sciz said:

I guess the most notable thing if Loyko is correct is that we're talking about a 2016 pick rather than the 2015 #6 pipe dream. Of course, most people will have forgotten about all this by the 2016 draft anyway and it's not a good look of a highly picked player will always be linked to this controversy.

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As I said in my last post, I am guessing that there is a chance it could be a first rounder, but Goodell is too scared to take away the 6th overall pick.

Besides, I think the league wants the Jets to get Mariota because they want their NY teams to be relevant with a franchise level QB. Granted, I don't know if Mariota is that guy. In fact, I tend to doubt it.

Sciz said:

I guess the most notable thing if Loyko is correct is that we're talking about a 2016 pick rather than the 2015 #6 pipe dream. Of course, most people will have forgotten about all this by the 2016 draft anyway and it's not a good look of a highly picked player will always be linked to this controversy.

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Rob0729 said:

Note, I didn't see it was a 2016 draft pick when I responded. This might add weight that it will be a first rounder. Goodell may be too gun shy to take away the sixth overall pick this year and give it to a team under investigation cheating in another matter and think this is the safe way to get around it while sending a message to teams about tampering. The argument would be that it is a first a year later and it is likely to be a lower draft pick.

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I agree. Giving us the 6th overall pick becomes a real story and would be regarded as unnecessarily punitive. A 2016 pick is a one day story only, even if it a first rounder and if Revis plays well for the Jets, it would just be perceived as a good value trade (a 2016 first is the same as a 2015 2nd in draft trade money).

102 Pat said:

I hope he wore kneepads while writing that...

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And a peg on his nose.

manxman2601 said:

I agree. Giving us the 6th overall pick becomes a real story and would be regarded as unnecessarily punitive. A 2016 pick is a one day story only, even if it a first rounder and if Revis plays well for the Jets, it would just be perceived as a good value trade (a 2016 first is the same as a 2015 2nd in draft trade money).

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I would be absolutely shocked if we got a first.. I think it will fall in line with past punishments .. so a swap and Jet's lose a pick.

tHEY

yopats said:

Interesting tidbit from @NEPD_Loyko

https://twitter.com/NEPD_Loyko/status/578902168998117377

"Heard a week ago there is a great chance #Patriots get a 2016 draft pick for Jets tampering with Revis"

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The first tampering took place months back, and it was so blatant that they only thing to have been discussed is what the punishment should be, not if tampering took place. I would hope it doesn't take that much time to figure that one out, now the second "alleged" tampering, that may take a bit more time to sort out.

When teams trade current picks for future picks, the current pick is generally de-valued by one round.

If the league makes the Pats wait it damn well better be a first rounder.

Of course, with the way the Rats have been loading up in FA their pick will likely be much higher than the current #6.

I would hope the rodents would also forfeit another pick THIS year.

yopats said:

I would be absolutely shocked if we got a first.. I think it will fall in line with past punishments .. so a swap and Jet's lose a pick.

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If the investigation found hard evidence of them tampering, I think the punishment will be severe. I didn't think so before, but this is a reactionary league and the league is upset that so many teams gave the league office the middle finger about tampering rules and published deals before they were legally allowed to even negotiate deals. They may want to make an example of the Jets.