ORLANDO, Fla. — Not Suh fast.
Jets CEO and chairman Christopher Johnson told reporters Sunday that his team has rescinded its recent contract offer to free-agent defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. Johnson said it would be overstating things to say he stepped in, but he clearly was heavily involved in the decision to pull the offer.
“On reflection and in concert with [general manager] Mike [Maccagnan], we’ve rescinded the offer to Suh,” Johnson said at the league meetings. “It just didn’t seem to be in keeping with our longer-term plan.”
It came to light Friday the Jets were in the bidding for Suh. Suh told Yahoo Sports they had emerged as a serious contender and it was reported the Jets had made the largest contract offer to Suh, who was released by the Dolphins this month. Suh has visited the Saints, Titans and Rams already. Suh had not visited the Jets, but told Yahoo he had spoken with coach Todd Bowles about his plans for him.
Going after Suh seemed like a strange move for the Jets. Even though he is immensely talented, he did not fit the type of player they have targeted this offseason in free agency. Suh is 31 years old. The Jets have mainly been signing players 25-28 years old. Suh is going to command a big contract. The Jets gave cornerback Trumaine Johnson a big deal, but otherwise have signed team-friendly contracts.
The Jets also value the culture that began to develop last season with their young core of players. Dropping a veteran superstar into the middle of that mix did not seem to make much sense. Suh also has a reputation as a dirty player and not the greatest guy in the locker room during his career with the Lions and Dolphins.
Johnson would not say what specifically made the Jets change their minds.
“I had a lot of discussion with Mike about this and I think our thinking just changed a bit,” he said. “That’s where I have to leave it.”
It is possible the Jets did not want Suh using them to try to leverage other teams into paying him more. Why would it get out the Jets have offered him the best deal and he had not even visited the team? It sounded like that was leaked to try to drive up the price.
Johnson, who is running the team while his brother Woody is serving as U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, said he was not involved when the initial offer to Suh was made. He also said he did not speak to Bowles about it, just Maccagnan.
“In discussion with Mike, looking at what our plan is, it became apparent to the two of us that this just didn’t work,” he said.
It will be interesting to hear what Bowles has to say about Suh when he speaks to the media Tuesday. Bowles likely saw Suh as a missing piece for his defense. The Jets’ defensive line has gone from the strength of the team to a need spot. They have lost Sheldon Richardson and Muhammad Wilkerson from the unit in the last year. Suh did not live up to the six-year, $114 million contract he signed with the Dolphins in 2015, but he is still a productive player that would have improved the Jets defense.
Ultimately, Johnson and Maccagnan did not see it that way and decided to walk away from Suh before he even got a chance to visit the team.