Among his many mantras and achievements, former Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey is credited with the maxim that it’s better to trade a player a year or two before his decay is complete than a year or two after.
Such a sports coda has its uses, particularly if you are indeed trading said player and not just releasing him, as you can get useful players in return for an athlete who lives largely on rep more than on his reps.
But no such logic applies to the Jets, or at least their treatment of their stalwart linebacker, David Harris, who was frigidly dumped by the only team he’d ever known, a team Harris represented with class, humility and all-world production.