New York Jets: Joe McKnight Is An Idiot

I love watching Joe McKnight play, rare as it is. He's an electric kick returner and he almost always is able to squeeze himself between defenders for an extra few yards as a running back. The problem is, I don't get to see McKnight play that often, for a variety of reasons. He's failed his conditioning test every year that he's been with the New York Jets, and he's often injured, among numerous other reasons.

And on July 30, he was arrested in Hannover Township, New Jersey. The team had the day off from training camp, so McKnight decided to speed and change lanes without a signal in front of a police officer. The police officer that pulled McKnight over discovered warrants for two unpaid fines, a $200 fine for failing to produce an insurance card in Summit, NJ, and the non-payment of a $120 fine from failing to observe a traffic signal in Springfield, NJ. McKnight was taken into custody and released when he paid the $320 balance of the two previous fines.

I'll let you draw your own conclusions about McKnight, but here's what I've gathered. McKnight is a tremendously athletic player that is simply unable to stay out of his own way. Some things are uncontrollable, like injuries. But passing a conditioning test, learning the playbook, and paying $320 in fines when he signed a four year, $2.5M contract are completely controllable. And the worst part of it? This is a contract year for McKnight, and he still can't get it together. At this point, it'd be surprising if he ever does.