Kerry Rhodes Traded to Cardinals, Don’t Get Great Value in Return

On Friday, Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum said he expected Kerry Rhodes to take part in off-season activities and to be a part of the future of this team. 

On Saturday, Rhodes was traded. The Jets traded Rhodes to the Cardinals for a fourth round pick in this year’s draft and a seventh round pick in next year’s draft. Rhodes will fill in at safety for Antrel Rolle, who was recently signed as a free agent by the New York Giants. 

The Jets didn’t get a good value for Rhodes. A fourth round pick will rarely turn out to be a player with a similar caliber as Rhodes. But Rhodes and the Jets’ coaching staff weren’t seeing eye-to-eye, so the Jets probably are happy that they are moving forward without Rhodes, which to them, is worth the low value in return. 

Personally, I’m elated Rhodes is gone. It was worth the trade for the fact that the Jets got rid of Rhodes, more so than receiving a fourth round pick.

If rumors a few days ago were true that the Cardinals would have sent Anquan Boldin to the Jets for Rhodes, I don’t understand why the Jets wouldn’t have gone that route instead of acquiring a fourth round pick for him. Although there are some question marks surrounding Boldin, acquiring him and signing him to a three or four year deal wouldn’t have hit the Jets’ pockets too hard since they got rid of Rhodes’ contract. It would have been a few million dollars more a season. It’s not like they were adding Boldin and a a new contract salary without losing a salary, like the Ravens did when they acquired Bolden for draft picks. The Jets would have dropped Rhodes’ salary at the same time. Maybe the rumors weren’t true or maybe the Jets weren’t so high on Boldin. 

With the absence of Rhodes, what do the Jets do at safety? Are they content with Eric Smith, who stepped in as the starter when the coaching staff benched Rhodes for a number of games in ’09? Or do they feel they need to acquire a different safety or draft one?

By trading Rhodes, the Jets get rid of his salary and also don’t have to pay a $2 million roster bonus he was due next week.

I’m done trying to make any sense out of what the Jets are doing this off-season. They have some sort of plan that Jet fans can’t put a finger on. Godspeed, Jets.