Unfortunately, You're Still Chris Baker

As you may have read about on ESPN.com on Monday night, Jets tight end Chris Baker is highly upset about being the lowest paid on his team at that position. After the free agent acquisition that landed an aging Bubba Franks and this weekends first-round selection of Dustin Keller, Baker, the starter, has decided to sit out until rewarded.

Rewarded for what? Baker had what some are daring to call a breakout season in '07 with 40+ catches that racked up in excess of 400 yards and three scores.

That's it. And while anything out of the tight end in New York is considered nothing less than a Godsend (see Anthony Becht...better yet, don't) those type of statistics are still poor. In hopes to improve an offense that struggled to look like one last season, the Jets have pulled various strings through free agency and the draft to improve their stagnancy.

"I've been here for six years," Baker led into his heated message on Monday. That is maybe where he should have ended it, because even a die hard Jets fan like myself only remembers the past few mediocre seasons.

"I needed to let it be known that I'm not happy and nothing is being addressed with my contract," Baker later added.

And now with him as expendable as ever, nothing appears to be in the near future. I appreciate where Baker is coming from as a guy who just wanted the franchise he tried so hard to help to return the favor. But this is the nature of this beast that we call professional football and apparently Chris does not watch ESPN as guys like Shaun Alexander (who has put together a slightly better resume) are cut on a daily basis. He should find his remote though, because by the look and sound of this, he could be seeing his name strolling on the bottom line any day now.