Jets Journal

Vilma gets permission to seek trade

February

We all knew it was coming. Jonathan Vilma’s talent has been wasting away in two years under Mangini’s 3-4 defense, making it only a matter of time until he left for greener pastures. It appears he will not finish the last year of his contract with the Jets.

Vilma has asked for and received permission to seek a trade. Lots of teams could use a middle linebacker with as much speed as he has. Jacksonville and New Orleans are the leading contenders because of their glaring need for a ML, and because they’ve been active in seeking one. Jacksonville just hired Donnie Henderson as an assistant. Henderson was the D-coordinator during Vilma’s first two seasons when he looked like the next Ray Lewis.

Figure Vilma and his agent find a suitor before the draft. Whether a deal gets done, who knows. He’s coming off major knee surgery (although I think the Jets are claiming it was just a splinter) and just started jogging. Will his rehab continue as scheduled? Will he be running at full speed soon? Who knows. A team may not want to give up more than a fourth-rounder for a guy who’s such a question mark. Tannenbaum may say, “Vilma was a Pro-Bowler. We’re just just going to give him to you.” And then nothing will get done.

Although I think the Jets want to be rid of the distraction and start the David Harris era. So they may dump him for less than full value. They don’t like distractions (see: Kendall, Pete). Which also makes me worry about Laveranues’s future, but that’s another story.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 22nd, 2008 at 7:35 pm by Jake Thomases.
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One Response to “Vilma gets permission to seek trade”

David February 22nd, 2008 at 9:03 pm
It’s a shame he’s coming off that injury, because interested suitors will definitely use it to diminish his value and who can blame them? I still think they could just move him to the outside, if nobody is willing to cough up reasonable value, but maybe I’m just crazy. I hate to see them have to just give him away. He was never ever suited to the middle of this defense, and it’s a shame it ook our “genius” coaching staff so long to figure that out.

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