So, the Jets are adding another shiny piece to their 2023 ensemble of stars, agreeing to a deal with four-time Pro Bowl running back Dalvin Cook.
A Dream Team, centered around superstar quarterback Aaron Rodgers, has been assembled with the singular focus of putting an end to a franchise championship drought that has pushed several years beyond a half-century.
Dream Teams are tantalizing when you allow yourself to ponder the possibilities.
Dreams Teams, too, can come with pitfalls. And with colossal disappointment.
Ask the Brooklyn Nets of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden. The Nets were sure that those three superstars were going to deliver multiple NBA titles. Until all three forced their way out of Brooklyn as if all the pizza in the borough suddenly started tasting like Domino’s.
Ask the 2023 Mets of Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. The Mets were sure the teaming of those two pitchers, with a combined six Cy Young awards between them, was going to turn their 101-win team of 2022 into a World Series winner in ’23. Until neither pitcher performed to the back of his respective baseball card, the rest of the team underperformed and Verlander and Scherzer were unloaded for pennies on the dollar in a massive housecleaning.
So, the 2023 Jets don’t have to look far from their Florham Park, N.J., headquarters to find New York sports examples of Dream Teams gone bad. Very bad.
That shouldn’t deter the Jets from dreaming big. Those examples should merely serve as fair warning.
Before Cook was added to the kitchen, the Jets running back room, led by second-year stud Breece Hall (who came off the physically unable to prepare list on Tuesday with his surgically repaired ACL healed), appeared to house a pretty talented group.
Before he hurt his knee in Week 7 last season, Hall was a legitimate Offensive Rookie of the Year candidate. In Weeks 4 through 6, he was averaging more than 18 carries per game and that figured to carry on as long as he remained healthy.
Cook, in the past four seasons with the Vikings, carried the ball 1,075 times for 5,024 yards and scored 43 touchdowns, making the Pro Bowl each of those seasons. Do you think he agreed to that one-year contract worth up to $8.6 million to tote the ball 10 to 12 times a game when he’s averaged more than 22 carries per game the past four seasons?
We haven’t even met or spoken to Cook, who isn’t expected to join the Jets until sometime next week, so what his expectations are for his role aren’t known.
But chemistry is as critical to a successful team as the talent on its roster. Jets coach Robert Saleh knows that, which is why he spoke to the Jets’ running backs before the Cook deal was done. Jets third-year back Michael Carter praised Saleh for his transparency.
“There is nothing we’ve done that isn’t without a plan,’’ Saleh said. “Expressing that plan to the players was very important, to make sure that everybody was on board. I think everyone was pretty comfortable with it and we are rolling.’’
One of Saleh’s strengths is how he handles his players.
One of his not-so-secret catalytic weapons when it comes to team chemistry is Rodgers.
Despite his star status, Rodgers has done a remarkable job of integrating himself with not only every part of the Jets’ roster — starters and backups on both sides of the ball — but the non-football people who work inside the building. He’s made it his business to include everyone, and the bonding power of that cannot be overstated.
“I’ve never seen it in my 20-plus years in this league,’’ Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, who also played in the NFL, said. “I’ve never seen a person that is so inclusive, that shares so much, that is constantly trying to bring everybody along with him.’’
The Nets, as an example, never seemed to have any of those stars even attempt to “bring everyone with him.’’ Instead, those stars always appeared to be going their own way, team chemistry be damned.
“For a coach to say, ‘We need to do all the extra stuff to get on the same page to become the team we want to become,’ is one thing,’’ Ulbrich said. “But it’s way more powerful when that comes from a player of [Rodgers’] stature, a player that’s had so much success in this league.’’
The improved look of the Jets roster today compared to what it looked like when Saleh joined general manager Joe Douglas before the 2021 season for a rebuild is shocking.
“It’s not just bringing in guys to bring in guys,’’ Saleh said. “There’s a plan for all of them and it’s been awesome to see it kind of evolve.’’
It’s evolved into a Dream Team on paper with less than a month before the Sept. 11 season opener when it gets real.
The hope at 1 Jets Drive is that this Dream Team doesn’t become the nightmare those Nets and Mets teams did.
Read more
