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The New York Jets lost one of their prized free-agent targets on Tuesday, June 21.
Adam Schefter of ESPN shared on Twitter that veteran defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi has signed a one-year deal to join the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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Total Bummer
Ogunjobi had visited the Steelers earlier in the day on Tuesday and they were able to come to terms a few hours later on a contract.
Earlier in the offseason, the former Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns stud spent time with the Jets on a multi-day visit.
Things didn’t go well enough for a contract to come to fruition after the visit, but former Jets player and television analyst Leger Douzable revealed that the team did make a contract offer to Ogunjobi.
It was described as a “take it or leave it offer” and one that Ogunjobi obviously wasn’t comfortable enough with to sign.
It has been a rough offseason for Ogunjobi.
He originally signed a massive three-year deal worth over $40.5 million to join the Chicago Bears in free agency. However, a failed physical allowed the Bears to back out of the deal and left Ogunjobi floating in the wind.
The oddity of how that played out gave a lot of NFL teams cold feet in pursuing him after that point which contributed to the long delay in Ogunjobi finding his next team:
- 21.5 sacks
- Over 229 total tackles
- 53 quarterback hits
Where Do They Turn to Next?
With Ogunjobi off of the board, where do the Jets turn to next?
It is a fascinating question for a team that lost Foley Fatukasi very early in free agency on a big-money deal ($30 million) to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Gang Green had an ‘A’ for effort as it pertains to their attempted pursuits of BJ Hill and DJ Jones during free agency, but those ended up being fruitless.
Both of those players found juicy deals in free agency and landed elsewhere.
While the Jets’ overall talent on the defensive line is above average, if you put a magnifying glass over the interior you’re left with a lot of questions.
Especially coming off of a year where the run defense was historically poor. What was their solution to the said problem?
Apparently, nothing which I’m pretty sure Albert Einstein had some famous quote about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. What did he call that insanity?
Well, the current message from the Jets overlords is hoping that one of the unheralded guys on the roster can make a sizable jump. Or perhaps the improvements to the rest of the defensive roster will be so significant that the defensive tackle position can survive because of those other assets.
Although as always there is another option on the table.
There are still several notable veterans available in free agency who would come on the relatively cheap at this stage of the offseason. That very well might be worth it to pursue if you’re Joe Douglas and the Jets.
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