Jamison Crowder contract hints at Roberts Saleh effect

It’s easy and fair to avoid sentimentalities and chalk up the gambit to a mere business decision. Crowder presumably gets a guaranteed salary and gets to view the 2021 season as a chance to make a highlight tape that will presumably end up on the desks of the other 31 NFL general managers as soon as the final seconds ticks off of the Jets’ Week 17…erm, 18…contest. One can also argue that moving elsewhere this late in the postseason would have severely limited Crowder’s potential destinations.

But as the Jets’ rebuild edges closer to immortality, it’s hard not to view Crowder’s re-upping, if only for a short while, as yet another sign of how much Robert Saleh has changed the culture in his short time at the New York helm.

Even Jets fans might be tired of hearing about the Saleh effect, especially considering we’re still about three months away from playing meaningful downs. Part of the Saleh allure, even if his worshippers don’t want to admit it, is indeed recency bias. Things became so garish under Gase that anything short of Rich Kotite’s return would’ve been seen as an upgrade. Observing the Saleh effect also doesn’t mean one views the new Jets’ boss as infallible. One would think, for example, that his reputation could’ve secured a stronger secondary lineup.

If Saleh’s prescience did play a role, though, it’s fair to assess the work he’s doing in combating the “Same Old Jets” moniker.

Even if things worked out in relatively favorable fashion, the Le’Veon Bell debacle should’ve set the Jets’ free agency endeavors back at least a few years. What self-respecting free agent was going to look at what Bell went through…rumors of in-fighting, mismanagement…and say “Yeah, I want in on that”? One could easily cast the blame of the Bell trouble entirely on Gase, but that doesn’t erase nearly five decades of football follies that gain extra attention, if only because there’s a Jets logo on it.

Had the Butt Fumble, for example, happened anywhere else, the sensation probably would’ve died down in a month. But because Mark Sanchez’s infamous turnover happened with a green oval on his helmet, it became a non-perishable. Joe Douglas deserves some credit in freshening up the free agency welcome wagon as well. When things didn’t work out, he sent some valuable pieces off to more attractive situations that also fit their on-field needs (i.e. sending Steve McClendon to the eventual Super Bowl champions in Tampa Bay). But, from the moment he took the job, Douglas was fighting decades of jokes, many of them exaggerated, made at the Jets’ expense, one that painted (and frankly continues to paint) Florham Park as a football underworld.

The Jets stigma could’ve steered free agents, including Crowder, away. Even with so many improvements, asking the Jets to reach the playoffs is still going to be a tall task. Crowder would’ve been well within his rights to demand a trade to a contender or take his chances on the late offseason free agency market. After all, his skills as a reliable slot prescience could well complement a team at the cusp of a playoff spot or seeking to move further in the postseason.

Those unwilling to embrace the Saleh effect could further argue that, since Crowder has re-upped on a mere one-year deal and the prescience of young, lauded projects like Moore, he won’t be around to fully reap what the new guard is sowing. But, much like anointing Saleh (and/or Zach Wilson, for that matter) as the savior of green metropolitan football, it’s probably a bit too early to have any in-depth conversations about the future. If the Jets flash some hope beyond the expected improvement from a rock-bottom campaign and Crowder becomes further absorbed into the rebooted unit, a further commitment could be possible.

The most noticeable difference in Crowder’s New York career, at least from a leadership perspective, this time around is that of Saleh. The new head coach’s hire has earned vocal praise from players both domestically and abroad. Crowder’s decision to not only stay but return to a team eager to atone for a two-win campaign is, in part, another such statement.