This is a difficult one for me. I love almost everything Shaun Ellis has brought to the team. My most lasting memory of the AFC Championship Game will not be Rex Ryan throwing his head set, Brian Schottenheimer's sequence on the goal line, or Rashard Mendenhall running all over the Jets in the first half. It is when the Steelers were lining up to take the knee. Ellis, who had given over a decade trying to get his team to the Super Bowl, tried to leap over Pittsburgh's linemen to try and somehow strip Ben Roethlisberger. Usually there is not much action on those plays, but Ellis was fighting to the bitter end.
It is thus with regret that I write the following. Looking at the other free agents the Jets need to sign, I am not sure they can afford Ellis unless Shaun is willing to work with them to make another run and stay with his only professional team. If he wants to be paid like a top defensive end, which I would understand completely as this could be his final payday, the team has too many cheaper options who could do his job adequately and too many other holes to fill. It goes against much of what I said and thought during the season, but after considering it from all sides, I do not think the Jets can get into a bidding war. (Sigh.)
How do you vote?