Jets owner Woody Johnson spoke out today about accusations that his team won't spend money to keep its important players together. From Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News:
"Last year, they said I was overspending like Dan Snyder or Al Davis," Johnson told the Daily News this morning. "I was accused of being a profligate spender. Now, you're saying that I'm not spending enough. We spent enough… We've been on the high end of the league spending for the 10 years that I've been in the league. I've never told Mike (Tannenbaum) that he couldn't get a player. We have to live within the rules of the NFL and within the cap and with the player rules that were set years ago."
"Within the rules, we're going to do what it takes to win a championship," Johnson added. "We're committed to doing that. We're committed to fielding the best team that we can field within those rules… We will live within those rules. But we're dedicated to fielding a championship team. Nothing has changed in that department."
He also emphasized that "the Jets is a business" with "payrolls to make" and "taxes to pay," yet sharply denied that the team's struggling Personal Seat License sales had anything to do with the struggle to reach agreements with key players Darrelle Revis, Nick Mangold, D'Brickashaw Ferguson, and David Harris.