John Idzik has a plan, you know he does. Except so far that plan has involved mostly sitting on his hands, on a boatload of cash, rousted from a sleep at the free-agent switch only to sign Eric Decker and Breno Giacomini.
It doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a clue, it doesn’t mean he isn’t laying in the weeds getting ready to pounce, it doesn’t mean he isn’t trying to win this year — even if Rex Ryan needs to win this year a helluva lot more than the GM who inherited him does.
But on a day when the Giants signed cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (5 years, $39 million), a player who visited the Jets over the weekend and would have started opposite Dee Milliner, and then dynamic kick returner Trindon Holliday, the natives have now grown increasingly restless inside Jets Nation, and some of them are mad as hell and can’t take it anymore (but they will, because they always do).
When your team hasn’t won a Super Bowl in 45 years, a drought four years longer than Knicks fans have endured, there might understandably be a longing for evidence Idzik is the kind of strategic genius capable of closing the gap on Bill Belichick and the Patriots.
It is difficult to sit and urge Jets fans to chill because I don’t walk in their shoes — I can only imagine their pain.
And I know they aren’t in any mood to be reminded Idzik regards the draft as the true lifeblood, that free agency isn’t over, that the jury is very much out on this offseason.
Because here’s the problem:
Darrelle Revis signed with the Patriots.
The GM over in East Rutherford, Jerry Reese, has signed a slew of players with far less dough in his coffers.
Never mind that shunning Revis, who may be a $12 million man in 2014 but is holding firm he still deserves to be a $16 million man after this season, was the right move. Idzik and Woody Johnson could not afford to pay any cornerback $12 million, not with all the other holes that need to be filled. Tom Brady’s championship window is closing. There is no window at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center.
Still, March Madness to impatient Jets fans means Idzik doing next to nothing to fill those holes.
Adding insult to injury is the parade of new Giants Reese has brought to Tom Coughlin: guard Geoff Schwartz, center J. D. Walton, linebacker Jameel McClain, cornerback Walter Thurmond III, safety/kick returner Quintin Demps, Rodgers-Cromartie and Holliday. In addition to re-signing linebacker Jon Beason, safety Stevie Brown and kicker Josh Brown.
Try telling Jets fans that oftentimes these big-name free agents don’t work out, after the Eagles captured Darren Sproles in a trade for a fifth-round pick.
Idzik’s best move to date was ridding the oppressive contract and personality of Santonio Holmes.
He still needs to find a No. 1 receiver, two corners, a safety, a guard, a tight end and a backup quarterback, presuming he gives Mark Sanchez the change of scenery he may not realize he needs.
Idzik, even without whacking Sanchez, has $27.9 million in cap space.
Reese, after lowballing Justin Tuck and letting Hakeem Nicks and Linval Joseph go, has $8.6 million in cap space.
The Dolphins, meanwhile, have fortified their loaded defensive line and upgraded their secondary, and while the Bills will miss S Jairus Byrd, deemed too expensive ($9 million), they added a starting LG (Chris Williams), MLB (Brandon Spikes), elite special teamer (Corey Graham), a big back (Anthony Dixon) and re-signed TE Scott Chandler and K Dan Carpenter.
Of course, Idzik also re-signed his kicker, Nick Folk, and his TE, Jeff Cumberland. Oh, and OLB Calvin Pace.
It’s only the middle of March. Only to Jets fans, right now it feels like April 1.