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Signing Breno Giacomini was not close to being John Idzik's worst move as Jets general manager. Unfortunately, that probably says as much about the missteps Idzik made as it does about Giacomini's contract and performance. While the Giacomini signing in year one was not the abject disaster signings like Mike Goodson and Dimitri Patterson were, it is difficult to call this a success story.
It was easy enough to see coming. Giacomini was one of the supporting players on a line that was not what made the Seattle offense work. The Seahawks have success on offense because Marshawn Lynch drags defenders with him and because Russell Wilson is so good at evading pass rushers and extending plays. It is not the offensive line. Guaranteeing $7 million to one of the lesser parts of that unit was kind of a head-scratcher at the time, and not a whole lot happened to change that.
There isn't much of a WOW factor to Breno's game. He isn't explosive out of his stance as either a run blocker or pass blocker. He doesn't have the athleticism to contain good edge rushers. He isn't really a knee bender in the run game. This adds up to a subpar pass blocker and a functional run blocker. For the Jets that added up to 41 pressures despite sending a fair amount of help his way and 8 penalties.
If you give me Breno at $1 or 2 million as a backup, I can live with it. At the $5.1 million he will make over the next three years as a starter, and I'm not happy. Breno's contract was structured so that the Jets would still be on the hook for $4.3 million against the cap even if he is cut this year. That adds up to savings of less than $1 million. So Breno is going to be a Jet in 2015.
In an ideal world, I would like to see the Jets find an upgrade. Breno would be an extremely expensive backup, but that money is gone either way. I'm not sure how realistic this is. If the Jets can upgrade both guard positions, you probably could put together a really good line even with Breno. If he's your fifth best lineman, you can make it work.