Is it a cash-flow issue or just being smart?

As legendary coach Bill Parcells once said about free agency, “You can’t buy a championship.”

So maybe it’s not the worst idea to do what the Jets did this year under GM Joe Douglas — practice fiscal responsibility.

A writer from the New York Daily News keeps hammering the Jets for not spending more in free agency this year, and claims the reason they didn’t was related to cash-flow problems.

Maybe someone from a newspaper that was sold for $1 shouldn’t talk about cash-flow problems.

But do the Jets have money trouble? We have no idea. We have no access to their books. Surely all NFL teams have seen better financial years than 2020. Obviously NFL teams have had to refund a lot of ticket money due to no or limited fans in stadiums this year. The Jets will have no fans in attendance due to an edict from New Jersey governor Phil Murphy, a lifelong New England Patriots fan.

However, whether there are cash-flow issues or not, considering the profligate spending of the prior regime, perhaps it’s time to stop spending like drunken sailors. That group gave out some of the worst contracts, not just in Jets history, but NFL history.

The Jets released cornerback Trumaine Johnson this offseason, just two years into a five-year deal for $72 million, one the worst NFL contracts ever doled out. The Jets paid $34 million guaranteed for two years to a corner who played like a journeyman — when he actually played and was not injured or being suspended for being late. The former regime paid a cornerback, who runs like a safety, money like he was Deion Sanders in his prime.