Quincy Enunwa blasts Jets over absurd fine, reveals his ‘50/50 chance’ of ever playing football again

Quincy Enunwa has been on injured reserve since Week 1, so it’s been a tough season for the Jets’ wide receiver.

It just got tougher.

Enunwa was recently fined $27,900 – and that didn’t sit well with him, clearly, because he took to Twitter to air out the franchise for its shenanigans.

Here’s Enunwa’s lengthy thread:

Wow, there’s a lot to unpack there.

First of all, let’s start with the big picture: There’s been no news on Enunwa since he hit IR with a neck injury, but he just revealed that he only has a 50/50 chance of playing again. That’s a huge deal, obviously. This is a major, life-altering issue for Enunwa, clearly, but it’s also big for the Jets, who signed him to a long-term contract extension late last year.

That news isn’t a complete surprise, considering this is Enunwa’s second major neck injury in three years. That’s obviously not good. But the fact that it could very well lead to his premature retirement – and cause some serious salary-cap issues for the Jets – is certainly notable.

Now, onto the fines.

The Jets have landed themselves in a world of trouble with injured players this season. First, there was the Kelechi Osemele drama, with the team and player battling over whether or not he needed – and could receive – surgery. Then Luke Falk filed an injury grievance against the team, several weeks after getting cut. Now Enunwa – one of the longest-tenured players in the building – is fuming mad about how he’s being treated, too.

Taken together, this is a terrible look for the Jets. The Osemele scuffle was incredibly publicly and already damaged the team’s reputation with other players – otherwise known as future free agents – around the league. This dispute with Enunwa is sure not going to help.

The Jets declined to comment on Enunwa’s fines or comments.

It certainly sounds like Enunwa had perfectly good reasons to miss his two days of treatment. Yes, he should have alerted the team ahead of time (as he admitted). Perhaps the Jets decided not to allow him to skate on the fact in order to maintain uniform accountability across the team. Who knows. But it sure seems like common sense should have prevailed here and prevented this fine from ever happening – assuming Enunwa’s excuses are legit.

Lastly, if Enunwa is right and players within the locker room are unhappy with these fines, then this could be a bigger problem for the Jets. After all, Christopher Johnson literally just threw his public support behind head coach Adam Gase in part because the locker-room culture has been so positive. It would be wild if fissures started to form just days after the acting owner’s bold (and possibly very naive) declaration that Gase will return in 2020.

Matt Stypulkoski may be reached at mstypulkoski@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @M_Stypulkoski. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.

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