not really. personally i mocked OT antonio garcia to the jets in the 3rd round. instead we took a WR stewart and the pats drafted garcia 6 picks later by trading up to get him with the lions. garcia is a bit of a project but has the skills to grow into a solid LT with some coaching and possibly for us, could have competed at RT right away. give it 1-2 years he'll be the starting LT for pats
What about 2015 and 2016, when Mac took 1 OL each year, both in round 5? Bad years for OL, too? The bigger problem is that Mac is on record stating that he believes high picks should never go to OL, and you can build an OL thru waiver pickups, free agents, and late round picks. Sorry, I don't subscribe to that theory and the jets current OL shows you how well his theory works (or should I say does not work?).
I had forgotten about Garcia. I did like him and hoped the Jets would take him. He was one of the few LT prospects that were worth a darn however. Still, imo, I believe that most LTs start pretty quickly. With the Jets' needs on the OL, I think they need to get an LT that can come in and start immediately and not need a couple of years of development. It would be one thing if he had been in the draft a couple of years before D'Brickashaw retired. It's quite another when you have no one to take his place or have a JAG at LT.
You must not have seen my response to 101. In it, I criticized Mac for not taking an OT in one of those years. He did try to trade up for Laremy Tunsil, but failed. Jonathan Spriggs was another excellent LT prospect in that draft and Mac could have traded up or down to try to get him. There were also a few more LTs in that draft, and there were some in the 2015 draft, including La'el Collins. I believe that quote from Mac was in regard to interior OL, but may be mistaken. The fact that he tried to trade up for Tunsil, seems to bear that out, as he was willing to not only use his 1st round pick to get Tunsil, but an additional pick or picks as well.
I think you can build a good OL w.o using early round picks or high profile free agents. But just like anything in the sport there are no such things as "always" or "absolute" The years in which Mac has been GM have been some of the leanest OL draft classes we've seen in a very long time. Solid OL used to be a draft day commodity a team could count on if they knew what they were doing scouting them. That has not been the case & unless some underclassmen step up outside of a few names it looks to be a shallow class heading into 2018. My point is not to let Mac off the hook but rather question the lack of follow up plan to fix an obvious deficiency that drastically holds back the team.If he can't build the OL the exact way he wants their needs to be an alternative game plan.There hasn't been.
We have beechum for a few years to groom him. would have been perfect for us. only way to get a day 1 top LT is with a top 5 pick. they don't last very long in the draft. most teams value a LT 2nd highest only behind QB.
ding ding ding,,,give this man anything on the top shelf ! I have said this before and totally agree !
That only works is Beachum is able to return to his pre-injury form, if not, we'll be needing a new starting LT next year, if not sooner. Top flight LTs do tend to go very early in the first round, but I disagree that the only way to get a top LT is with a top 5 pick. It is one way, and the best way to insure that you get a great prospect, but not the only way. Russell Okung, Chargers - 6th pick of 1st round Trent Williams, Redskins - 4th pick of 1st round Terron Armstead, Saints - 3rd round pick Tyron Smith, Cowpokes - 9th pick of 1st round Eric Fisher, Chiefs - 1st overall pick Cordy Glenn, Bills - 2nd round pick David Bakhtiari, Packers - 4th round Riley Reiff, Vikings - 23rd pick of 1st round Joe Thomas, Browns - 3rd overall pick Andrew Whitworth, Rams - 2nd round Matt Kalil, Panthers - 4th overall pick Anthony Castonzo, Colts - 22nd pick of 1st round Nate Solder, Patriots - 17th pick of 1st round Jason Peters, Eagles - UDFA Duane Brown, Texans - 26th pick of 1st round Kelvin Beachum, Jets - 7th round pick Joe Staley, Niners - 28th pick of 1st round Jared Veldheer, Cardinals - 3rd round pick Donald Penn, Raiders - UDFA Alejandro Villanueva, Steelers - tryout player Greg Robinson, Lions - 2nd overall pick Ronnie Staley, Ravens - 6th overall pick Jake Matthews, Falcons - 6th overall pick Ereck Flowers, Giants - 9th overall pick Taylor Lewan, Titans - 11th pick of 1st round Garrett Bolles, Broncos - 20th overall pick Taylor Decker, Lions - 16th overall pick Cam Robinson, Jaguars - 2nd round pick Donovan Smith, Bucs - 2nd round pick Charles Leno, Jr., Bears - 7th round Jake Fisher, Bengals - 2nd round Sam Young, Dolphins - 6th round Jason Spriggs, Packers - 2nd round pick Ryan Ramczyk, Saints - 32nd pick of 1st round Laremy Tunsil, 13th overall pick (due to bong video), would probably have been 1st overall So, out of the 32 starting LTs in the NFL, plus 3 of the best LT prospects of the last couple of years who aren't starting yet, following is the breakdown of where they were drafted. 1st round, top 5 picks: 6 (7 if you count Tunsil) 1st round, top 6-10 picks: 5 1st round, pick 11 - 32: 8 2nd round: 6 3rd round: 2 4th round: 1 5th round: 0 6th round: 1 7th round: 2 UDFA/Tryout: 3 More of them were taken in the bottom half of the 1st round than in the top 5. Over half (19) were taken in the 1st round. As many were taken in the 2nd round as in the top 5.
Great post! but if you take the top 10 of them without counting i'm willing to bet 8-9 were drafted top 10