If there’s one saying that never stops being true in the realm of professional sports? It’s “never say never.” When Kyle Long decided to retire this offseason after seven years with the Chicago Bears, nobody was surprised. The three-time Pro Bowler had endured a brutal series of injuries dating back to 2016. His body was a shell of its former self. The best decision for him was to step away from the game before he did anymore damage. However, that doesn’t seem to have dissuaded the New York Jets.
According to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, the organization has reached out to Long about possibly coming out of retirement to join the team. It’s not a secret the Jets have had some offensive line issues the past few years. So they’re looking for all the help they can get. Long has a few connections out there. Head coach Adam Gase was his offensive coordinator in Chicago for the 2015 season and Dowell Loggains is their offensive coordinator, having held the same job in 2016 and 2017 for the Bears. Joe Douglas is also the GM and he spent some time in the teams’ front office under Ryan Pace.
“The Jets are going down a familiar path to try to add more offensive line help.
The Daily News has learned that Gang Green has talked to Bears Pro Bowler Kyle Long about coming out of retirement. One year after general manager Joe Douglas coaxed Ryan Kalil out of retirement, he’s attempting a similar approach with Long.”
New York Jets would have to offer Long major incentive
Truth be told, it’s hard to envision any scenario where Long would accept such an offer. For one, he’s lost a ton of weight since he officially retired. He is much slimmer. It would take a long time to rebuild his body up to the customary 320 lbs he was at while playing. Way more time than he’d have before the season begins.
Then there is the incentives involved. Are the Jets positioned for a Super Bowl push? No. They have an interesting young quarterback in Sam Darnold but that team hasn’t had a winning record in five years and don’t look like anything close to a threat in the AFC. So the only real way the Jets could make this happen is with money. A lot of money. They sit around $24 million in cap space. While that is 5th-most in the league currently, would they be willing to surrender a sizable chunk to bring in a 31-year old blocker with a vast injury history?
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That doesn’t seem likely. So while their interest in itself is interesting, the likelihood is they won’t get the answer they’re looking for.