The Jets completed their remodeling of their wide receiving corps yesterday, reaching a deal with veteran Derrick Mason. The deal was for two years, according to a source.
Mason visited the Jets on Thursday, and the Jets made him an offer. He also had offers from the Titans and Ravens, both of his former teams.
Mason let the world know he chose the Jets on Twitter, writing “Jet fuel is full. Time to fly.”
The 37-year-old replaces Jerricho Cotchery as the team’s third receiver. The Jets released Cotchery on Thursday.
Jets coach Rex Ryan knows Mason from his time with the Ravens and has made no secret of his desire to add Mason this week. Last season, Mason caught 61 passes for 802 yards and seven touchdowns in 16 games for the Ravens.
This completes the Jets receiving corps. They re-signed Santonio Holmes and signed Plaxico Burress in the last two weeks.
According to a report in The Baltimore Sun, Cotchery will visit the Steelers today, and the Ravens also are interested in the ex-Jet.
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Jets special teams coach Mike Westhoff once said when Brad Smith goes, he goes. Well, Smith is now on the Bills, but Westhoff remains with the Jets.
“As usual, I was lying,” Westhoff said.
Westhoff admitted Smith was one of his all-time favorites because of how he could do it all on special teams. Now, Westhoff must replace him.
“That’s almost impossible,” he said. “What did Denzel [Washington] say in ‘Remember the Titans’? You can’t replace a Gerry Bertier. That’s something that I will not be able to replace the fact that he did so many different things, but that doesn’t mean we still can’t do a lot of things because we will. It will just be with different personnel.”
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Outside linebacker Calvin Pace had surgery on his broken right foot before last season, and it caused him to miss four games. Pace feels he’s back to 100 percent now.
“I was in pain a little bit when I first came back, but I didn’t want to make that a big deal and say something about it,” Pace said. “I had surgery on my foot as everybody knows. The doctor said there was no way you could re-hurt it or hurt it any worse. He said you can deal with the pain and deal with it. As the season went along the pain went away a little bit, gradually. Mentally I started trusting it more. So that’s where I am and feel a lot better.”
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The Jets had the day off yesterday.