The News Of …

First, the New York Jets demoted wide receiver Derrick Mason. Then, late Tuesday night, they traded him to the Houston Texans for a conditional seventh-round draft pick – ESPN New York reported.
The move comes after a swirl of reports that Mason was unhappy with the team’s offense.
In the latest twist for Team Drama, Mason reportedly was benched for the first half of the Jets’ game Sunday against New England because of critical comments he made after a loss on Oct. 2 to the Baltimore Ravens. Coach Rex Ryan denied that, saying he wanted to give rookie Jeremy Kerley a shot as the No. 3 receiver Sunday and suggesting the move came from a “private conversation” last week with Mason. “I had a conversation with Derrick, and the reason he didn’t play as much had absolutely nothing to do with a conversation [he had with the media]” – Ryan said. “You guys know I have an open policy with the media. I don’t put a muzzle on anybody.” In any event, Mason, who usually plays half the snaps, had one catch in six plays in the loss to the Patriots.
“Guys, let’s face it, I thought he’d catch 80 to 90 balls and that hasn’t happened” – Ryan said.
The Jets weren’t sharing details, but Rich Cimini of ESPN New York, citing unnamed sources, reports that the team thought Mason wasn’t learning the playbook quickly enough. Mason, who had played for the Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans, was courted by both teams as a free agent this summer, and the Jets seemed like a good fit. But the team had cleared him to spend Mondays and Tuesdays in Nashville with his family and that contributed to the perception that he wasn’t committed. Add to the mix that Mason (37) had only 13 catches in five games and, a source told Cimini, at times Mason didn’t know the play.

Derrick Mason.

According to the Houston Chronicle and the Associated Press, Derrick Mason is joining Houston after the Texans traded a conditional draft pick to the New York Jets for the wide receiver Tuesday.
The Texans will look to Mason to help pick up the slack while WR Andre Johnson recovers from surgery to repair his hamstring.
Jets coach Rex Ryan sat Mason for most of Sunday’s 30-21 loss to the New England Patriots, stating he wanted to give rookie Jeremy Kerley more playing time.
But in an interview with ESPN Radio on Monday, Ryan suggested there may have been more behind his initial reasons for sitting Mason.
“I did have a conversation with Derrick regarding some things” – Ryan said. “And I’m not going to get into our conversations. It was a private conversation.”
Along with fellow WRs Plaxico Burress and Santonio Holmes, Mason was one player reportedly complaining about the direction of the Jets’ offense, though the team tried to debunk that Daily News story before the New England game.
Mason was the Jets’ Number 3 receiver but appeared in only five plays on Sunday. He has 13 catches for 115 yards this year, his first with the Jets.
The 37-year-old Mason and the Texans will face the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. It will be the second time in three weeks that Mason has played Baltimore, where he spent the previous six years.

Derrick Mason said there were cracks in the Jets offense after the ugly loss to the Ravens.
The Jets obviously thought he was one of them, because the Jets traded him to Houston for a conditional seventh-round draft pick on Tuesday.
The move comes days after Mason was benched against the Patriots for (depening on who you believe) complaining about his role or not knowing the offense well enough.
Rex Ryan has insisted that Mason, who he predicted would catch 90 passes this season in what might have been his most ridiculous boast yet, wasn’t demoted – or traded, presumably – for running his mouth.
Ryan doesn’t much need his own players questioning whether he knows what he’s doing, though, and Mason’s broadside did just that at a time when plenty of knives were already coming out for Ryan.
He might have survived that if he could play, but it was clear on Sunday that there wasn’t anything Mason could do that rookie Jeremy Kerley, his replacement, couldn’t do in the offense. A player who can’t play and can’t keep his negative thoughts to himself isn’t long for any team.
Given how quickly the situation deteriorated, it’s actually commendable that the Jets could salvage anything from the Mason mess by getting a draft pick in return. That’s about all that’s commendable about this whole saga, however.
Mason’s arrival followed the departure of Jerricho Cotchery, a player that the Jets really didn’t appreciate until he was gone. Cotchery wanted more playing time last season, but it remained private knowledge until Cotchery asked the team to release him so he could go elsewhere.
From a purely football standpoint, it wasn’t a tough move to defend but it has become clear that these Jets aren’t as strong in the locker room with players like Mason who started finding public routes to vent their grievances as quickly as possible. The Jets can say this is about performance all they want, but it seems hard to accept that they’d admit blowing such a big move so quickly without the sense that the team needed Mason gone to improve the chemistry and send a message to others who might want to complain this season.