Part of me does not understand the logic behind people against starting Darnold because of the offensive line. I get the argument against starting him because of the risk of injury and damage to his mental game, but if a guy is ready to start at the NFL level and you feel he gives you the best chance to win, you can't just not start him because of a lack of talent somewhere else. Not only does that do a disservice to him, but it does a disservice to the fans and the rest of the team. If you don't have a good enough line, find the pieces to make it better. I don't feel you avoid starting your potential franchise QB just because you don't trust the line 100%. All that said, we need to improve the offensive line, but if Darnold is ready to start day 1, let him start.
The depth from top to bottom needs to be rebuilt. Mac has not made any moves on improving the line, his entire tenure here. I question his decision making process in terms of that.
and until that depth is massively upgraded, playing Darnold behind it is like letting a drunk drive your brand new Jaguar. Its not gonna end well...
I think our starting OL group is average at best, which may be adequate when healthy. The depth is terrible though, and with Ijalana on IR, it just got worse. We have to sign a swing T tackle now. I actually like Qvale at RT and RG, but not at LT. And I don't have much faith in any of the other backups.
I think with Beachum and the guards healthy (which is not the case), Darnold can play on that line ... but right now, if the season started tomorrow Teddy should start. Regardless, this team is awful at run blocking, I don't see us having a strong run game this year.
If we go heavy on the Oline with an extra TE, we might be able to run outside . I don't see any Chris Ivory types that can pound the middle and survive the pounding. I wonder if Dennison's system is sinking in too. New systems usually take more time to install than one TC.
Eric Tomlinson will be a major factor in terms of that. The tackles are not good on the outside run in terms of containing defenders and creating lanes. From what I remember last year, Brandon Shell was not good in the run game, and nor is Beachum. That's why you rarely saw good runs to the outside last year. I think Shell has a lot of prove to be the future at RT. This year will be huge. I think the inside game is actually better, and Crow is going to be the one that benefits most from it. It'll take time to gell, but Mac needs to gut the line and rebuild it starting next year. It seems each time we have a young qb, there's that one lineman that ruins his career, all because the Jets were being cheap. Wayne Hunter, the Pete Kendall saga, its all throughout history.
If they go for Mack, it's going to be hard to use the draft to upgrade the o line. No first or second round picks means project at Tackle.
David Carr is not an apple's to apples comparison. He had no receivers, no offensive line, and no QB coach going into his rookie year as a starter. He was thrown into a far worse situation than just a shotty offensive line. He took a beating, yes, but was that the cause of his career not panning out, we will never know.
Again, a far worse situation than just a poor offensive line. Front office changes, lack of weapons, and a transition into a West Coast Offense was all at play, not just a poor offensive line
If you are on your back all of the time, you won't be getting the ball to your receivers. Darnold is doing well, but that doesn't mean you have to throw him out there WK1.
I agree, but hes been able to successfully rebuild in other areas. He needs to aggressively go after free agents and draft multiple players on the offensive line next year.
Agree. I am in no way saying to start him week 1. I haven't seen enough of him to make that decision nor has the coaching staff, as far as I've read. All I'm stating is that if you feel he is your guy and you feel he is ready to start, hiding him from an average offensive line until you can improve just hinders his progress. I guess you could make the argument the other way also, but I just don't see it that way
Watson sat a few games to start the year and I think he greatly benefited from it. Eli Manning recently said the same thing.
So weird because last week he was gushing about how great he felt. He’s gotta be healthy to start the season but it’d be kind of nice to have him play with his line mates a bit in preseason.
after the draft i posted that i thought the jets made a booboo by not addressing the OL in the same draft that they plucked their supposed franchise QB......ho hum only the jets. LOL.
