Getty New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh complaining after a questionable call during an NFL game.
The New York Jets lost another key pending free agent on defense late on Tuesday, March 15.
Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo shared via NFL Network, that safety Marcus Maye has signed a three-year contract to join the New Orleans Saints.
The deal is worth over $28.5 million and features over $15 million in guarantees.
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Wow Didn’t See That One Coming
Maye was coming off of a ruptured Achilles he suffered in the Week 9 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. With the grueling rehab expected for the injury, the former Florida Gator isn’t projected to be back on the football field until the late summer.
Despite that, the Saints signed him to a lucrative multi-year deal that’ll pay him handsomely.
His new deal will make him the 19th highest-paid safety in football with a $9.2 million average per year salary.
Initially, it seemed like Maye would have to wait for a one-year prove-it deal in the summer, considering his injury. Then right before free agency started there were some strong whispers that he may have a bigger market than originally expected.
Although no one saw this kind of deal coming, but it speaks to how highly thought of he is around the league.
Oh What Could Have Been
Things between the Jets and Maye’s camp were not very good. They had some tough contract negotiations and Maye hid the DUI from the team, which also created some rifts in the relationship.
All of that spelled what appeared to be a likely end between the two this offseason. However, there was a recent plot twist that suggested perhaps they would end up together after all.
After the Jets signed safety Jordan Whitehead on Tuesday, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated said that the team “hasn’t shut the door on keeping Maye too.”
That comment seemed to raise a lot of eyebrows on social media and then it was confirmed by Connor Hughes of The Athletic.
If the market would’ve dried up on him, the Jets were waiting in the wings to bring him back into the fold.
Obviously, that never came to fruition and now the big question that remains is what do they do now at safety?
Their newest addition Whitehead is locked in as a starter, but the other spot is certainly up for grabs. It could go to veteran Lamarcus Joyner, but that is no guarantee by any means.
A player to keep an eye out for, that will likely ruffle a lot of Jets fans’ feathers is Kyle Hamilton out of Notre Dame.
.@RiseNDraft said @NDFootball DB Kyle Hamilton (@kyledhamilton_) ‘is the only blue chip prospect’ in the 2022 #NFLDraft + ‘generational’ + ‘face of a franchise’ + will be the best safety in the #NFL within 4 years + great fit for #Jets: #TakeFlight #GoIrish
He is a supremely talented player that some believe is the best guy in the class overall. Although the value of the safety position has come into question and whether or not he’d be worth a top-10 pick in the 2022 NFL draft.
With the Jets filling so many of their other needs at cornerback, right guard, and tight end some have openly wondered whether that has opened the door for Hamilton?
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Jets Team Captain Bolts to NFC on Juicy $28.5 Million Contract: Report