After a few hours in which it looked like the New York Jets were going to be dismantled, the NFL’s trade deadline came and went on Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET without making another major deal.
Multiple reports surfaced that the organization was looking to trade both All-Pro running back Le’Veon Bell and star safety Jamal Adams, though general manager Joe Douglas opted not to make a move.
The Jets were reportedly contacted by the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs about Bell, but ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported approximately an hour before the deadline that the team was not planning to trade him.
Bell was the Jets’ prized signing of the offseason, inking a four-year, $52.5 million deal with Gang Green after sitting out the entire 2018 season due to contractual issues with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Despite being one of the most talented dual-threat backs in the NFL to give second-year quarterback Sam Darnold his most impressive weapon yet, Bell’s arrival didn’t come without its fair share of controversy.
Head coach Adam Gase was not thrilled former GM Mike Maccagnan spent that much in free agency on just one player for a team amid a rebuild. It led many to speculate that the move was the hammer blow that got Maccagnan fired.
The prospect of trading Bell would not only have gotten Douglas the capital needed to aid his rebuild, but the GM and Gase could have shipped one of the last big Maccagnan decisions out of town.
They would’ve had to contend with an irate fan base, though, seeing as Bell was the lone bright spot of the Jets’ miserable offense while Darnold was recovering from mononucleosis.
He has 536 total yards from scrimmage this season — which is roughly 36.5-percent of the Jets’ entire offense — with two touchdowns.
Bell has also put to bed any reservations about attitudinal issues as he has done and said the right things after emerging from his season-long holdout last year.
New York’s 29-15 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars saw the star being used sparingly as he only had 12 total touches, including just nine rush attempts.
As for Adams, a move to the Dallas Cowboys looked likely at some points throughout the day. The 24-year-old grew up in Texas and was reportedly open to a move away from the Jets.
After the deadline passed, Schefter revealed that the Baltimore Orioles were also heavily involved in Adams talks.
For a player that constantly made his love for the Jets known, the willingness to move suggests just how bad things have gotten in the locker room under Gase.
Since being drafted sixth overall in 2017 out of LSU, Adams has developed into one of the top defensive backs in the NFL.
He has provided a lone bright spot for a franchise that is mired in mediocrity, posting 197 combined tackles in his first two seasons in the league with 5.5 sacks, 18 passes defended, and an interception.
Adams has 39 combined tackles, five passes defended, and an interception in seven games this season.
Considering his All-Pro abilities and his age (24) the return for Adams was expected to be a high one for the Jets.
One of the recent templates used in gauging what they could expect was the Miami Dolphins’ trade of Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Pittsburgh Steelers where they received a 2020 first-round draft pick, a conditional 2020 fifth-round draft pick, and a conditional 2021 sixth-round draft pick.
With a higher ceiling, the Jets were reportedly looking for more than that as SNY’s Ralph Vacchiano added that the team’s asking price was “huge.”
