Chris Baker sure made his presence felt on the first day of mandatory minicamp.
Last season's starting tight end ripped into the Jets Friday, saying the team welched on their promise to rework his contract after the 2007 season. Baker has two years remaining on his deal and is due to make a base salary of $683,000 in 2008. That ranks him dead-last on the team's tight end salary depth chart, behind newly singed Bubba Franks ($1.66 million) and freshly drafted Dustin Keller ($5
million guaranteed as the 30th pick overall).
Baker contends that the Jets promised his former agent that the team would look at his contract if he turned in a good year and he finished with a career-high 41 receptions. GM Mike Tannenbaum didn't come out and say Baker "misremembered" the discussions, but he disagreed with his assessments.
"I just think Chris and I have a difference of
opinion about those conversations," Tannenbaum said.
"I was part of those conversations. I know what was
said."
This is the third player to accuse the Jets front office of reneging on contract talks. First it was Pete Kendall, who was eventually shipped to D.C., then it was Laveranues Coles, who received a guarantee on the final two years of his deal.
If you follow that pattern, it looks like the Green and White aren't going to budge on Baker. The Jets claim they redo contracts on a case-by-case basis and it seems like Baker doesn't have much of a case considering the team has a solid veteran tight end and one highly-touted one. Too bad. I like Baker and feel the Jets haven't utilized him as much as they could have in the past. Baker wants to be traded, but so far the Gotham Green aren't budging.
Honestly, I don't know who to believe. The Jets have had a disturbing pattern of dealing with their own lately and those players have also been somewhat vocal. Coincidence? Maybe, but I wouldn't bet on it. Baker may not have much leverage, but he did come out with this doozy:
"I'm not happy. ... I have a question for you. Imagine coach (Eric) Mangini was
the third highest-paid coach on the staff, you think he'd be happy about that?"
Zing!
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