Getty New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh joking around with one of his players during an NFL game.
The New York Jets are 3-2 and everyone is feeling a little different in the middle of October than they normally do around this time of year.
With the NFL trade deadline rapidly approaching on November 2, perhaps that could get the team thinking about making a move.
Denzel Mims Gets Shipped off in Jets-Ravens Trade
There have been a lot of Denzel Mims trade ideas thrown around over the last couple of months since his agent went public with their trade request.
However, this one from Bill Barnwell of ESPN feels like waving the white flag. In a column he wrote for the mothership, Barnwell revealed 15 deadline deal proposal ideas and one of them featured the former Baylor product.
Baltimore Ravens receive: wide receiver Denzel Mims
New York Jets receive: 2024 conditional seventh-round draft choice
Barnwell described Mims as a player that has “fallen off the radar” and highlighted the fact that he hasn’t been active for a single game yet this season and probably won’t the rest of the way because of his lack of special teams prowess.
“It’s clear that Mims isn’t going to live up to his pre-draft expectations, but I still wonder whether he might be worth a flyer for a team like the Ravens.”
Barnwell then described his elite 40 speed from the NFL combine and physicality as ideal fits in the Ravens’ scheme.
He did leave the door open for the Jets’ trade compensation to potentially increase from now until the offseason if…
“This suggested trade’s seventh-rounder could turn into a sixth-round pick if Mims plays more than 400 offensive snaps between the remainder of 2022 and 2023.”
Not an Attractive Trade for the Jets on the Denzel Mims Situation
It would be really surprising if the Jets actually pulled the trigger on this trade idea by Barnwell for a few reasons.
General manager Joe Douglas has proven to be a draw-the-line-in-the-sand kind of guy. Once he sets his mind on something, he sticks to it.
Earlier in the offseason, it was reported by Connor Hughes of SNY that the team was seeking a future fourth-round draft choice for Mims’ services. He added that the Jets were willing to acquiesce to his trade demands if they got the right price.
Why all of a sudden months later would they sell him off for a bag of beans?
The only reason you would do that is if Mims was being a malcontent in the locker room and was rubbing his teammates the wrong way with his attitude or practice habits.
From all indications none of that is happening so there should be no sense of urgency to deal him away unless you get a good haul.
In that same vein, Mims still has the next year and a half under contract for the Jets. Perhaps it would be a different conversation if the former Baylor product was in the last year of his deal right now, but he isn’t.
Mims is under contract through the 2023 season and isn’t set to be an unrestricted free agent until the 2024 offseason.
Here are the remaining cap hits for this season ($1.48 million in 2022) and next ($1.72 million in 2023).
If I were the Jets I’d keep Mims cryogenically frozen on the bench unless I received an enticing enough trade offer. He is the perfect injury insurance policy, he isn’t costing you much money, and he’s a talented player.
Robert Saleh said during final roster cuts that Mims is one of the “best 53 players on this team” and said that is the reason he is still here. None of that has changed over the last few months.
If we are being honest everything that has transpired thus far is exactly how all of us expected it to be here in 2022.
The Jets are super deep at wide receiver, Mims doesn’t play special teams, so outside of injury he wasn’t getting into the lineup and so far he hasn’t. Pass the biscuits.
We’ll see if anything changes ahead of the NFL trade deadline at the start of next month.