Hot Take Central: Keyshawn Johnson Says the Jets Will Let the Patriots Have Trevor Lawrence and Rex Ryan Takes Shots at Belichick

At starting at the 1:30 mark:

"Sam Darnold's not going anywhere. What they're going to do with that No. 1 overall pick is they're going to move it for somebody else. And if somebody else wants him like the New England Patriots for instance, take him. 'Give us your next 10 drafts No. 1 picks. If you believe that he's the next guy, then take him.'" - Keyshawn Johnson

In 2012, physicists at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider near Geneva slammed together ion particles to made a subatomic goo called quark-gluon plasma, a unique state of primordial matter thought to have existed just moments after the Big Bang (and before the Infinity Stones, I assume). The temperature of the experiment is said to have reached 9.9 trillion degrees Fahrenheit, which is 366,000 times greater than at the center of the Sun. And it has been widely considered to be the hottest phenomenon ever created by humankind. 

Until now. Until this take by Keyshawn Johnson. Imagining a world where the Jets pass up the chance to draft Trevor Lawrence and instead flip him to New England for any return in draft capital? That takes the kind of advanced, next-level thinking that even Swiss physicist can only wish they possessed. 

I mean, there's a grain of logic to his reasoning. If you look at the teams with fewer wins than the Pats - that would be the Texans, Jaguars, Jets and Giants - and all four have young quarterbacks they seem invested in. It might feel like Deshaun Watson has been around for ever, but he's just 25 and they used the 12th pick on him four years ago. Gardner Minshew might not be Jacksonville's long term solution, but he's middle of the pack in most passing categories at the age of 24. And the New York teams have each used a top six pick on a QB in the last three years. Personally I think it's stating the obvious that the Jets will earn get that No. 1 pick and use it on Lawrence. But they've done some pretty stupid things near the top of the draft over the years. Like take Sam Darnold, for instance. And Dee Milliner. And Mark Sanchez. And Vernon Gholston. And ... 

But mentioning the Patriots in that potential trade is madness. If that aforementioned particle collision got that hot, our quadrant of the galaxy would be space dust by now. It's just of the realm of possibility, is it not? I understand Keyshawn is a product of the Jets organization so maybe he has sources there and understands their thinking. 

But consider that so is Rex Ryan. And here's where his head is at with respect to the Patriots right now. From Keyshawn's own show:

Now there's a reflection of the state of mind of the entire Jets franchise. Shrex spent so many years on the pointy end of Belichick's pitchfork in the AFC East, he's not going to miss the opportunity to get as many blood-drawing jabs in as he possibly can. This is the chance he's been waiting for his entire adult life. And he'd sooner pass up a chance to get a footjob from a couple of shapely, manicured ladies' sized 4s than miss this opportunity. Even if we are only halfway through the season.

 Marcellus Wiley put it best:

So it's unfathomable the team that's had it even worse than Rex longer than Rex, much longer than Rex, would offer Belichick a lifeline in Lawrence. At any price. To even consider the possibility is to assume the Jets are a terrible franchise that has chronic dumbassery encoded in their DNA. 

Which is why I'm saying what Keyshawn is saying. There's a chance.