Jones was released by the Jets last week after being due a $3 million roster bonus on top of a $2.8 million base salary this season. He and the Jets failed to reach a compromise on restructuring his contract; the team wanted him to take a pay cut.The Chiefs canceled a meeting with another free agent running back that was scheduled for Thursday, Willie Parker, after Jones came to visit. They knew that they wanted to sign Jones, and they were very aggressive in doing so.
The 31-year-old Jones is expected to supplement third-year running back Jamaal Charles, who was Kansas City's MVP last season with 1,120 rushing yards and seven touchdowns.
I got two things out of hearing about this. The first is this: why would he want to sign with the Chiefs? They are a rebuilding team that is a couple years away from competing. Plus, Jones stats were really boosted plenty by the fact that the Jets have the best offensive line in the NFL. What is it going to be like for Jones running behind a below average-to-terrible line that is the Chiefs' offensive line.
I mean, the Chiefs line gave up 45 sacks last season (6th most in the NFL), 85 QB hits (12th most in the NFL) and they had the 6th worst overall line in the NFL. The Chiefs only had 30 rushes for first downs last season, 22nd in the NFL, and had 17 rushes up the middle for negative yards (3rd worst) and 21 to the right (5th worst). The Chiefs line, from the center over to the right tackle, is horrendous, but the left side was actually rather productive last season with rising star left tackle Brandon Albert and veteran left guard Brian Waters.
The second thing I got out of hearing about this signing was what are the Jets going to now do to replace him?
There were reports that the Jets were going to try to re-sign Jones, but a lot of people inside the league said that was very unlikely. However, I think there is now a perfect replacement on the market for the Jets to go in and swoop up. His name? Justin Fargas.
Fargas has been stuck on the atrocious Raiders the last seven seasons, drafted by them in the third round of the 2003 draft, but he has been a somewhat bright spot for them.
His best season came in 2007 when he rushed for 1,009 yards and 4 touchdowns. Fargas has never carried the ball all that much with the Raiders, other than in 2007, which can be a positive as a 30 year old back because there is not a lot of mileage in his legs.
Scouts, Inc. says this about Fargas: Fargas has excellent size and speed, but durability has been an issue with him every year. He has very good vision and acceleration. He hits the hole quickly and has explosive burst once he gets in space. Fargas doesn't have a lot of lateral quickness to make multiple cuts or leave defenders grasping at air, but his speed and acceleration are impressive. He can break long gains if he can get to the second level without having to avoid a lot of contact at the line of scrimmage. He has good burst when he decides to bounce outside but he's really at his best when he can make one cut and get up field. He tends to run with a narrow base and can be tripped easily at times. He has adequate hands as a receiver out of the backfield but he can still improve as a blocker and reacting to blitzes when he is left in to protect. (Copyright 2010 Scouts, Inc.)I think this would be a perfect fit to compliment Shonn Greene and Leon Washington. As my very good friend, Evan Glasner, said, and I agree completely with him, "if the Jets don't have to spend to much to get Fargas, then they should, in fact, go after him and sign him. Fargas is an insurance policy incase something happens to Greene" because Greene is now the starter, as we saw with the release of Thomas Jones. Hopefully the Jets make this happen.
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