A former Jets second-round pick wants out of New York. Wide receiver Denzel Mims has requested a trade, according to agent Ron Slavin, via Brian Costello of the New York Post.
“It’s just time,” Slavin wrote in a statement. “Denzel has tried in good faith, but it’s clear he does not have a future with the Jets. Denzel vowed to come back better than ever this season and he worked extremely hard in the offseason to make that happen. Still, he has been given no opportunities to work with the starting offense to get into a groove with them. We feel at this point a trade is our only option since the Jets have repeatedly told us they will not release him. [General manager] Joe Douglas has always done right by Denzel and we trust that he will do everything in his power to find him another team where Denzel can be a contributor.”
This news doesn’t come as a shock to ESPN’s Rich Cimini, with the reporter tweeting that this has been building for a while. Slavin met with Douglas a few weeks ago, and Mims “has expressed his frustration” to head coach Robert Saleh. The receiver clearly remains unsatisfied with his role, leading to Thursday’s trade request.
Mims had a standout career at Baylor, leading to the Jets selecting him in the second round of the 2020 draft. He didn’t do anything memorable as a rookie, but he still hauled in 23 receptions for 357 yards in nine games following a delayed start to his season. With a new coaching staff in New York for the 2021 campaign, Mims had a tough time carving out a role. While he got into 11 games, he finished with only eight receptions for 133 yards.
It’s been more of the same during training camp and preseason, as Mims has rarely participated with the first-team offense. He does lead the Jets with five preseason receptions (for 68 yards), but he’s clearly behind Corey Davis, Elijah Moore and rookie first-round pick Garrett Wilson on the depth chart. Braxton Berrios, who finished last season with 46 receptions, was also brought back this offseason on a two-year deal, meaning Mims was eyeing a role as WR5 at best. According to Cimini, Mims was the seventh wideout to see the field during the Jets’ preseason opener, and he effectively held the same spot on the depth chart in the second game (when the starters didn’t play).
As a result of his apparent standing with the team, Mims already found himself on the roster bubble heading toward the end of preseason. Based on his agent’s statement, it’s a bit surprising that the Jets are apparently refusing to cut the WR. The team would see a cap savings of about $700K in 2022 and more than $1.3M in 2023 (with only $378K in dead cap). Perhaps the front office is hoping to squeeze one more year out of Mims as some extra depth before inevitably cutting bait with him next offseason.
While the Jets can’t expect to recoup the second-round investment, there’s surely a team out there that would bank on Mims’ untapped potential. The situation isn’t entirely unlike that of N’Keal Harry and the Patriots. The former first-round pick requested a trade last year, but the receiver ended up sticking around New England for the 2021 campaign. Harry was finally traded to Chicago for a seventh-round pick this offseason.
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