INDIANAPOLIS — There is an X Factor … make that an “Ex Factor” for the Jets in free agency.
Multiple agents who represent Jets players scheduled to become free agents next week mentioned at the NFL Scouting Combine this week that if the Jets don’t pay their clients, they think the player would have a landing spot in Buffalo, where former Jets coach Rex Ryan is now the head coach, or Miami, where former Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum is the executive vice president of football operations.
This interest may be real or just perceived, but it makes sense, and it does create some leverage for the agents as they try to negotiate new deals with the Jets before free agency opens on March 9. There are strong ties between many of the players and the two former Jets leaders. There are seven Jets pending free agents who were acquired during the Ryan/Tannenbaum run of 2009-12, four of them draft picks.
Though it is unlikely defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson (2011 first-round pick) will hit the market, running back Bilal Powell (2011 fourth-round) might. Linebacker Demario Davis (2012 third-round) and safety Antonio Allen (2012 seventh-round) are the other draft picks from that time scheduled to be free.
Davis and Allen probably will leave without much of a fight from the Jets, but an undrafted player could be the most interesting test of the Ex Factor. Nose Tackle Damon Harrison was signed by Tannenbaum as an undrafted free agent from tiny William Penn University in 2012. Ryan then spent time developing him into the stud defensive lineman he has become over the past three years. The Jets would like to bring Harrison back, but ultimately he may cost too much. Harrison’s agents may look to Buffalo or Miami for a landing spot. Imagine Harrison playing alongside Ndamukong Suh?
One problem for the Jets’ AFC East rivals is salary cap space. Both the Bills and Dolphins are scrambling to create some, but they are expected to be able to make moves to clear some space before free agency opens.
The Ex Factor is not just in play for free agents, but also players the Jets may ask to take a pay cut. Usually, the team gives an ultimatum — take less money or we will cut you — believing the player won’t get more somewhere else. With Ryan and Tannenbaum out there, the agent can point to them as possible suitors if the Jets want to threaten cutting the player.
Though Tannenbaum was fired as the Jets’ general manager after the 2012 season, Ryan remained for two more years with John Idzik, and has ties to even more Jets players. Ryan loved running back Chris Ivory, whom the Jets acquired in 2013 in a trade with the Saints. The Bills have a good running back corps, so it seems unlikely Buffalo would be looking for a back.
Miami might be a player in the running back market with Lamar Miller scheduled to go to free agency. Tannenbaum was a huge advocate of Powell when he was with the team, and that could be a fit.
This is the second year the Jets have dealt with this after the two former Jets landed these jobs in 2015. Last year, linebacker David Harris was rumored to be going to both Buffalo and Miami before re-signing with the Jets for three years and $21.5 million. Powell drew interest from the Bills last season before coming back to the Jets on a one-year deal.
Ryan and Tannenbaum are long gone from the Jets, but their presence in the division means their presence still is felt inside the Jets’ offices.