It's not quite as flashy as the recent happenings in Jets Land, but it's the team's first acquisition of a player who actually scores points.
The Jets re-signed kicker
Jay Feely to a one-year deal Wednesday. Feely was a godsend last season once incumbent kicker Mike Nugent went down on Opening Day with a strained thigh or groin or whatever it was that sent him into the Witness Protection Program. Feely immediately landed in my dog house when he missed his first field goal attempt (a 31-yarder) against the New England Patriots in Week 2, but rebounded nicely and finished 24 of 28, including two 50 yarders, on the season.
The Jets reportedly toyed with the idea of inking another former Baltimore Raven, 41-year-old
Matt Stover, to take over the kicking duties, but instead chose to go with the 32-year-old Feely.
With Feely back in Green, the Jets officially waved goodbye to Nugent, a former second-round draft pick in 2005. In retrospect, the decision to draft Nugent so high was a mistake, but the Jets were coming off a painful second-round playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in which then-kicker Doug Brien failed to connect on two potential game-winning field goals in the contest's final two minutes. Nugent was highly touted coming out of Ohio State and the belief was that he would be drilling field goals and collecting touchbacks for at least the next 10 years.
Of
mice and men, right?
Anyway, don't weep for Nugent -- he signed a one-year deal Wednesday with the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Speaking of former Jets,
Laveranues Coles signed a four-year deal Wednesday with the Cincinnati Bengals worth $28 million. I'm not going to lie -- I'm going to miss LC. He always played hard and (sadly) you can't say that about every wide receiver in the NFL. I'm surprised he landed in Cincy and not with the Miami Dolphins, though. Thankfully, I won't have to see him in those orange and aqua uniforms twice a year.
And finally, this economic downturn has reared its ugly head in Jets Land. No, the new stadium is still a go and the team's brand spanking new practice facility in Florham Park, New Jersey is still standing, but the Jets are forcing about
50 employees to take two weeks of unpaid vacation this summer.
Paul Needell and
Steve Politi make some pretty good points in Friday's Star-Ledger. I just wish sometimes I could go back to when I didn't know how much players made or how rich owners were and just read about the game.
Oh, simpler days.
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