Jets Release Coles, Salary Purge Continues Without the Whining

Laveranues Coles has been the Grumpy Smurf on offense for awhile now. 

He wasn’t happy with Mangini’s training camps, he hates having to catch balls that are thrown too hard, and he missed his good buddy Chad Pennington.  I think his sensitive hands miss Chad’s lobbed passes more than anything but hey that’s just me. 

After meeting with Rex Ryan this week, they’ve agreed to part ways amicably.  Coles has been released and the Jets no longer owe him the $7 million he was guaranteed (if I understand it correctly the Jets are now going to take a $1 million hit).  Hallelujah.

This offseason is off the hook.  The list of recent non-Jets reads as such: Brett Favre, Mike Nugent, Chris Baker, Brandon Moore, David Barrett, Eric Barton (probably anyway), David Bowens, and now Grumpy Smurf. 

They’re clearing cap space faster than Bill Belichick can grab their unwanted players.  You gotta know Chris Baker’s been targeted by the Pats right? 

I’ll bet anyone 50 bucks right now that Coles ends up with Chad in Miami.  This is unbelievably...something.  I don’t know what, but I just hope Tannenbaum has a Plan A, a Plan B, and a Plan C.

The team that just three weeks ago was reported to be in “Cap Hell” is now at least $22 million under and I bet that number will continue to grow until the start of free agency this Friday.  That’s a ton of money to play with.  Who are they targeting?  Who does Rex have his eye on?

I’ll go out on a limb here and guess that a large chunk of Baltimore’s defense will be making the move to Jersey this spring. 

The Ravens pretty much made Terrell Suggs unattainable but beyond that, I don’t think there’s anything stopping Bart Scott, Ray Lewis, or Jim Leonard from coming here. So Ray Lewis is old and he wants to play in Dallas…perfect.  Pick up Scott and Leonard.

As of right now, they officially need a wide receiver.  I’m hoping for TJ Houshmandzadeh as well as a player in the draft. Isn’t Ocho Cinco dying to get out of Cincinnati too? 

Coles really wasn’t the receiver he has been in the past.  Between the dropped game-breaking balls and the concussions he was starting to have, his whining really started to irk me. 

The Jets still have Jerricho Cotchery and he’s tough as nails.  Even if it’s David Clowney who lines up, at least they’re putting some speed on the field.

Friday will hopefully reveal some of the Jets plans for free agency.  Good players go quickly so I’m hoping (praying) that Woody has the checkbook raring to go.  This is no time to sit on our butts and watch. By all indications the Jets have some $$$ burning a hole in their pocket and are ready to pounce. 

This is the Jets we’re talking about though, so you know it wouldn’t surprise me if they ended up getting Terrell Owens.  Let me be clear, this is in no way an endorsement of TO.  He’s a punk and I’m glad Jet’s fans aren’t even mentioning his name on team websites.  Except I just kinda sorta did…