Veteran Jets WR on path to becoming a massive free-agent bust

ESPN's Rich Cimini recently highlighted how quickly the addition of veteran wide receiver Allen Lazard last year has potentially turned into a free-agent disaster for the New York Jets.

During the 2023 offseason, Lazard signed a four-year deal worth $44M with the Jets, and after a disappointing performance last season, Cimini shared what could potentially lie ahead for the receiver during the next few months.

"The Jets probably won't cut [Lazard] because his $10 million salary is guaranteed," Cimini said. "At the same time, it will be hard to dress him for games because he doesn't play special teams. For now, he's running with the starters, but that likely will change when Mike Williams (knee surgery) returns in late summer."

In 14 appearances with New York last season, Lazard only managed to accumulate 23 catches for 311 yards on one touchdown. This was a bit surprising, considering he signed with the Jets after a 2022 season with the Green Bay Packers in which he hauled in 60 passes for 788 yards and six touchdowns.

To be fair to Lazard, he was expecting to catch passes from Aaron Rodgers in 2023, and the New York quarterback sustaining a season-ending injury in Week 1 likely played a large role in the veteran wide receiver not living up to expectations last year.

Still, if Lazard is going to make any sort of impact on the Jets in 2024, he's going to have to beat out a number of new receivers that the team has added to their roster during the last few months.

Along with signing former Los Angeles Chargers pass-catcher Mike Williams in free agency, New York also used a high pick in the third round of this year's NFL Draft to select former Western Kentucky wide receiver Malachi Corley.

If the Jets were confident in Lazard, they probably wouldn't have signed Williams, and they might have passed on Corley in the draft as well. But New York clearly felt it needed to improve the amount of talent in its wide receiver room, which isn't a good sign for Lazard.

It's possible that the Jets could look to trade the veteran receiver to another team before the start of the season, but they likely wouldn't receive too much in return for a 28-year-old player coming off of a poor performance in 2023.

Whatever they do, New York signing Lazard last year currently looks like a huge mistake and one that is unlikely to improve until it eventually parts ways with the veteran pass-catcher.