Strait Back to Cleveland! Suggs Fails Physical

Less than twenty-four hours after the Jets and Browns announced a deal that would send Lee Suggs to the New York for Derrick Strait, the trade has been rescinded. Suggs failed his physical this morning and was immediately shipped back to Cleveland.

I referred to yesterday's move as a "calculated risk" that could provide a positive reward for a managable amount of risk. Today it seems as if the risk has far outweighed the reward as Suggs never even made it to the practice field, let alone off the sidelines and into a game.

Now the Jets are left to scramble for yet another running back that might help their ground game. In the meantime, Derrick Strait is headed back to a team that deemed him expendable just yesterday. For a player that has yet to live up to grand expectations, today's events can only damage his psyche.

As we so-often find ourselves muttering in Jetsland: "Same Old Jets!"

Jets Trade Derrick For Suggs - Strait Up!

Wire reports have confirmed that the Jets have dealt third year cornerback Derrick Strait to the Cleveland Browns in return for running back Lee Suggs. The move comes just weeks after Strait was moved from cornerback to safety to replace the injured Erik Coleman (apandectomy).

With future hall-of-famer Curtis Martin on the shelf recovering from offseason arthroscopic knee surgery, and only Cedric Huston and Derrick Blaylock slated as replacements, the move for a back like Suggs seems to be a well calculated risk.

At best, Blaylock is a third down back who's strongest attribute is receiving short dumps and screens out of the backfield, while Huston's performance late last season showed that he is not physically equipped to handle the workload of a full-time runner.



Suggs brings both youth and promise to the field, in addition to a history of injury and missed playing time. Drafted by the Browns in the 4th round in 2003, after a fairly successful career at Virginia Tech, Suggs represents promise unfulfilled. In his limited playing time between injuries, Suggs has shown flashes of NFL caliber play, including a 186 yard - two touchdown-performance in the final game of the 2003 season.

Strait came to the Jets with high expectations in 2003 as the Jim Thorpe Award-Winner for the nation's top college cornerback. Drafted in the 3rd round in 2003, Strait was expected to bolster a struggling Jets secondary. Unfortunately, in two season's as a backup, he failed to record an interception, and never quite matured as much the team had hoped. It is safe to say that he's been a bit of a disappointment.

As a result, this trade is well worth the possible risk/reward - Wozzy approved!

Make Up Your Mind

Earlier today, ESPN.com posted an article on their front page claiming that sources had confirmed that Chad Pennington had already been named the starting QB. However, just a few hours later, that article was removed from the site and replaced by another article claiming that the first report was erroneous. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2537001

Naturally, ESPN.com chose to blame the misinformation on an unnamed source that spoke with the "Newark Star Ledger." This excuse is humorous, because rule number one in journalism is to make sure your source is valid BEFORE you go ahead and print/post something. In this case, ESPN.com placed more emphasis on "breaking" the story, as opposed to accurately informing their readers.

At any rate, it is a positive sign for Jets fans to see Pennington earning high praise early in camp. First year head coach Eric Mangini went as far as saying "We're surprised at the progress he's made. No one expected him to along this far this early." If you choose to believe it, the "Star Ledger" source went on to say that the organization is surprised with Pennington's arm strength and accuracy early in camp.

It would be an absolute shame to see Pennington's career expire long before it's possible ascension. This Jets fan is surely rooting for Chad to take control of the position that is rightfully his. Ideally, Gang-Green will be led by Pennington on opening day in Tennessee.