Former Jets wide receiver Robby Anderson is not a fan happy with a report that surfaced following his exit to Carolina.
Hours after Anderson signed with the Panthers on a two-year, $20 million deal on Tuesday, WFAN radio host Boomer Esiason reported that the Jets offered Anderson a four-year contract worth $40 million before he came to terms with Carolina.
“Robby wanted to take less years and wanted to bet on himself and obviously wanted to go play for a coach that he knows, cause the coach obviously down in Carolina was his coach at Temple, and he feels comfortable with that offense that they’re building around Joe Brady, their offensive coordinator down there,” Esiason said on Boomer and Gio in the morning on Wednesday. “So Robby decided to leave and essentially bet on himself cause he wants to be back at the free agent table in two years, and I don’t blame him.
“I don’t know if the Jets would’ve offered him the two-year deal. That I don’t know. But I do know that, according to my sources, that there was a four-year, $40 million deal on the table for Robby Anderson.”
Twenty-four hours after Esiason’s report, Anderson took to social media to refute it.
“False news,” Anderson said in a tweet that has since been deleted. “Y’all need to better jobs reporting and putting out fake news too ppl.”
It is unknown if the Jets ever made an offer to Anderson before he signed with the Panthers. However, it looks like the four-year deal that Esiason reported was never actually on the table.
After it seemed like a foregone conclusion Anderson would depart in free agency with his comments following the Jets’ 2019 season finale, the Temple product indicated that he wanted to return to the team a week before free agency kicked off. The two sides failed to come to terms on a deal, leading Anderson to reunite with his former college coach, Matt Rhule, in Carolina.
New York acted swiftly to replace Anderson, inking Breshad Perriman to a one-year deal worth $8 million in total value and $6 million in guaranteed money.