I don't disagree with any of this but why not simply sign Lowry after the Seattle expansion and protect Appleton instead that way the Jets don't pay anything? I feel like Lowry is a team first guy and wouldn't have an issue putting a handshake deal in place. Especially since his father is the assistant coach.

Agree, zero reason to protect Lowry. He is a UFA and we can try to sign him following the XD. If he’s willing to sign an extension now, he will be fine waiting until after the XD. Use that protection spot for Apples. Let them pick one of Berdin, DeMelo, Harkins or BooLoo and keep our extra assets.

As mentioned, just top drawer that Lowry deal until after the expansion draft and protect Appleton. The issue to me is on the back end and if they would take DeMelo instead of Harkins. If we lose DeMelo we are really in tough on the right side. If you have Samberg ahead of Stanley we should really be protecting DeMelo and letting them pick between Stanley and Harkins.

We can run a left side with Heinola, JMo and Samberg and then Beaulieu and Niku as depth. A right side of Pionk and ??????? is tougher for me to handle. If Poolman extends than that is 2 but we're still missing a top 4 RD IMO.