It came as somewhat of a shock when Bart Scott signed with the Jets over his former team, the Ravens, in 2009. Scott had his reasons, though.
After taking a team-friendly deal to stay with the Ravens in 2006, Scott finally wanted to cash in during free agency. The Jets offered him a six-year deal worth $48 million, as did the Ravens. However, with Scott’s former defensive coordinator, Rex Ryan, becoming the Jets head coach, the linebacker gave New York serious consideration. That made him realize that the big city could help him once his playing days were over.
Scott took advantage of being in the biggest media market in the world following his 11-year NFL career. He was with CBS Sports for five years before joining ESPN Radio New York. He currently has a show with Alan Hahn.
“You think it’s a coincidence that half the [ex-players] in media are from New York? It’s not an accident,” Scott told ESPN. “It helped brand me on the big stage. ‘OK, we’ll take the loudmouth’ because we had success. We didn’t call ourselves the Dream Team and get our asses kicked. People might say we talked s—, but guess what — we were damn fun to watch.”
The first two years of Scott’s Jets career were some of the best moments in team history. New York made the AFC Championship game in back-to-back years in 2009 and 2010. Scott was part of one of the best defenses of all-time, playing alongside Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie in their primes.
Scott took a chance coming to New York. Despite not winning a Super Bowl with the Jets, it’s fair to say he’s doing well in his life after football.
