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Restricted free agent center Wesley Johnson has signed his one year offer to remain with the Jets.
#Jets C Wesley Johnson, the heir apparent to Nick Mangold, has signed his 2nd round RFA tender. It's for $2.75M.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 12, 2017
This was expected. To take Johnson from the Jets, another team would have needed to part with a second round pick. Johnson doesn’t have much of a track record of success in the NFL so that probably wasn’t going to happen.
Just as much of an obstacle might have been beating the Jets’ offer. $2.75 million isn’t exactly bargain basement money for a center. If you look at Over the Cap, it is actually median center level money. It is only a one year deal, but that is rather pricey for a player without much of a track record of NFL success. Johnson will either be a reasonably compensated starting center or an expensive backup.
I get the feeling a lot of the success of this offensive line is based on projection and trust in the team’s ability to coach players up.