As the daylight gets shorter, the mornings inch toward that chilled autumnal feel and baseball loses its singular grip on the sports fan's soul, the NFL is marching toward the front lines and crawling up the sports page.
On Friday night, the Jets and Giants play their traditional third preseason game against each other in the stadium they share in East Rutherford (or Moonachie, if you ask the locals). It's the game that twists the knob toward NFL time, that made Victor Cruz an overnight sensation and tells us that the regular season is two weeks away.
While the game counts for little more than provincial pride, there have been important rumors surrounding the Jets over the last 24 hours. Gang Green is reportedly romancing the Oakland Raiders for a shot at their All-Pro defensive end, Khalil Mack.
And this slice of cyberspace will advise the Jets to stop stalking Mr. Mack, no matter how good he is, despite that he's entered his prime with a skill set that is coveted by all 32 NFL clubs, no matter the price for a skill set that is nearly priceless.
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On the surface, it sounds stupid: "Don't get a three-time Pro Bowler. Don't get the 2016 Defensive Player of the Year. Don't get the best pass rusher in the sport not named J.J. Watt. Don't get the only player in NFL history to be selected first-team All-Pro for two different positions in the same year (defensive end and linebacker). Don't get a guy who doesn't turn 28 until 2019. Don't get a guy who makes Gang Green's defense instantly end exponentially better."
Why would someone make such an absurd assertion? Especially when you consider that Oakland's new coach, Jon Gruden, hasn't even spoken to Mack since he returned to the Raiders months ago, further alienating his most important player after quarterback Derek Carr. Gruden is bringing a flip-phone brand of football to a smartphone sport.
You don't get Mack for a few crucial reasons. First, the Raiders will surely ask for invaluable draft picks in return, if not a vital starter or two. Second, acquiring Khalil Mack ability also brings Khalil Mack money. In the last year of his rookie deal, Mack is scheduled to make $13.8 million and is holding out for more, demanding that the Raiders give him a Fort Knox kind of contract, surely closer to $20 million per season. Third, trading for a player of Mack's talent and temerity is the logical domain of a team a player away from Super Bowl contention. And while they are clearly improved, the Jets aren't so close to a Lombardi Trophy that they need Mack's spin move to grab it.
None of this is a commentary or bad characterization of Mack's passion or athletic prowess. He is worth every glowing syllable the pundits have hurled his way. Unlike another wildly gifted, Bay Area pass rusher -- Aldon Smith -- Mack doesn't seem to have any of the obvious mental illnesses that have plagued Smith, who went from star defensive end for the 49ers to someone spending more time in jail cells and psych wards than on an NFL gridiron.
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Add the fact that Mack's relationship with the Raiders is all but obliterated, and you couldn't find a more savory moment to pounce on his otherworldly skill set. But the Jets would not only have to surrender a buffet of picks and players that would give them season-long heartburn, they would also have to give Mack a bank-vault busting contract extension.
The Seattle Seahawks showed us the template for building an NFL club. Like the Seahawks and Russell Wilson, the Jets just drafted their franchise QB, keeping his services at the NFL's version of minimum wage for at least the next four years. Like the Seahawks and Kam Chancellor, the Jets drafted Jamal Adams, the Terminator free safety who plays every game with the inherent passion of a man who has his mail forwarded to the Pro Bowl. Unlike the Seahawks, the Jets don't have Bobby Wagner, Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas.
What do Wilson, Chancellor, Wagner, Sherman and Thomas all have in common? They were all homegrown guys, drafted by the Seahawks, soon forming into a group so formidable it earned its comic book handle, Legion of Boom. Out of all these stars, only one (Thomas) was drafted in the first round. So they had five Pro Bowl players, in their early 20s, and paid them pennies on the dollar, making them the most feared team in football for four or five years. Through wage, age and attrition, Seattle is no longer a powerhouse, with pundits picking on the carcass of a formerly formidable club. But the Seahawks turned a few fine drafts into a team that smoked the Broncos in the Super Bowl, and should have defeated the Patriots the following year, had they just handed the pigskin to Marshawn Lynch 2 yards from the goal line.
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The Jets are getting there. Already, rookie QB Sam Darnold is showing the aptitude and attitude of an NFL starter. Some of us think he should wait while Teddy Bridgewater (or Josh McCown) start the season and school Darnold on the nuances of NFL defenses. But the Jets still need to draft more budding young stars in order to make MetLife a logical home for Mack.
Khalil Mack is a great player in his prime. But pro football is a fierce business with a firm salary cap. Jacob deGrom was so coveted not only because he's the best pitcher in baseball, but he's also quite cheap for a man with his talent. Mack is already holding out, and if the Jets trade for Mack, he will hold them up for biblical bank. The Jets can't add rooms to a house that has yet to be built.