Likes and dislikes from Jets free agency

The Jets enter Friday, the third day of free agency, having improved their roster. Here are three things we liked and three things we didn’t like so far from free agency.

WHAT WE LIKED

Secondary is solid

The Jets’ big free-agent splash was signing cornerback Trumaine Johnson to a five-year $72.5 million deal with $34 million guaranteed. Not only did the Jets snag one of the better corners available who can cover No. 1 wide receivers, but also the team avoided losing Morris Claiborne in free agency. Claiborne agreed to terms on a one-year, $7 million deal on Thursday. So now the Jets have two strong safeties in Jamal Adams and Marcus Maye, along with Buster Skrine, Johnson and Claiborne at corner.

Claiborne and Johnson can cover the outside receivers with Skrine moving to the slot.

Center

Building an offense can start at quarterback, but if you saw what the Giants did this week, finding solid offensive linemen to protect the most important position on the field is just as important. The Jets needed an upgrade at center and agreed to terms with Spencer Long. In the last three seasons with Washington, he’s allowed just three sacks (though he played just seven games last season due to injuries). Long is more physical than Wesley Johnson, who started 15 games for the Jets in 2017, and that’s what is needed.

Plan B worked

The Jets didn’t get their main offseason target, Kirk Cousins, but that’s OK because they got two quarterbacks for not even close to the three-year, $84 million fully guaranteed contract Cousins signed for with the Vikings. Josh McCown, who will be 39 when the season opens, is just the right man to become a bridge for the next quarterback. If that’s Teddy Bridgewater, who has recovered from a severe knee injury, that’s fine. He’ll come in much cheaper, $15 million in incentives, than Cousins. And the Jets have the No. 6 overall pick where Baker Mayfield or Josh Allen might be waiting for them.

WHAT WE DIDN’T LIKE

Lost Plan A

If you look back on Cousins’ thought process, it appears he wasn’t that serious about the Jets. Yes, he wanted to see what the Jets had to offer and had his agent do the talking for him. But Cousins didn’t visit the Jets’ facility and wasn’t a big fan of their goals of upgrading the roster. People close to Cousins believed he would take a lesser offer for a chance to win. The Vikings’ roster is ready to win now.

Missed out on the tight end

Austin Seferian-Jenkins was grateful for the Jets’ belief in him after he was arrested two years ago on a DWI charge. He stayed sober, now over 400 days, cleaned up his act mentally and physically and credited tight ends coach Jimmie Johnson for it. To avoid ASJ becoming a free agent, the Jets offered a two-year, $8 milllion deal, which the tight end rejected. So when free agency opened he visited a few teams such as the Seahawks but eventually settled on a two-year deal worth $10 million with the Jaguars, according to ESPN. Now the Jets have a bunch of unproven players at the position, unless they sign someone in free agency.

Losing the kicker

Chandler Catanzaro wasn’t the greatest kicker in Jets history, but he made 83.3 percent of his field goals last season and solidified a position of need. He’s gone now, having signed with Tampa Bay. The Jets quickly turned to Cairo Santos, signing him to a one-year deal on Thursday. He had converted 84.1 percent of his field goal tries and 96.2 percent of his PATs in his career. But Santos is coming off a groin injury that never fully healed last year. He was placed on IR twice. Santos passed an extensive physical with the Jets, so he’s healthy. But losing Catanzaro was difficult considering his success.