Can't believe it took well into page two of this thread to read the words "happy feet" LOL. That's what I remember as being the knock on Ken O'Brien. I was at all of his home games, and my memory was not of a horrible offensive line. It was more about Ken holding onto the ball too long, perhaps being slow on his reads. He couldn't get rid of the football, and appeared nervous. My brother and I would joke that "O'Brien shuffled his feet, and then choose the defensive player least likely to hurt him, to collapse into" At the time I didn't attribute that to horrible protection. It is interesting to read here that his "happy feet" were BECAUSE of the poor protection. Chicken or the Egg I guess. While the Jets didn't "hit" on Cadigan and Haight, I at least give them credit for attempting to maintain a strong offensive line through the draft - unlike current times. Once the Jets had the talent on the defensive line, the 80's Jets tried to draft primarily for the offensive line. Marvin Powell and Chris Ward hit, Cadigan and Haight whiffed. I give O'Brien more credit now than I did then, since his 1986 Dolphins win gave me a thrill I will never forget, while rooting for a team that has not provided all that many of them in the years since, although Ironically Testeverde's Monday Night Miracle also against Miami, rates just as highly. O'Brien always seemed to step up his game against Marino. For that alone I salute him.
Thanks? haha. I don't feel as though I am old-school, but that's relative. I've certainly seen a lot of home games. Unfortunately I was there for their last one.
I seem to remember Cadigan injured his knee in his rookie season. News wasn't as extensive in those days so we didn't get daily reports on his rehab etc., but I wonder if he never fully recovered? He stuck around for six season and played all 16 games in his last season with the Jets. Maybe the team just waited for him to get healthy and then cut him.
Okay, couldn't resist a little digging around. It was a foot injury in his rookie year of 1988, then a knee injury in 1990. By then he had switched from tackle to guard. He tested positive for steroids at the scouting combine and then decided to try to land a big free agent contract in 1994 but drew little interest. He played that season for the Bengals and then was out of the league.
From recollection I'd say it was more about not living up to his draft position. Although reading ukjetsfans comments brings back memories of his foot injury. Reading about his positive steroid test was an eye-opener. Not only don't I remember that, I don't remember it being an issue in sports yet. Not only that, why would the Jets draft him high if he tested positive for steroids at the scouting combine? Strange. Time for some Google searching... Just did. The steroid stuff is all true, but of course Cadigan downplayed it. Cadigan was picked 8 overall, so it's not much of a reach to say his experiment with steroids boosted him a few draft rounds, at our expense.
The suspicion about Cadigan was that he was an animal in college because of the steroids, and just a JAG in the pros without them. I remember with Cadigan and Jeff Criswell, we use to call them "Holding" instead of their first names because they got called for it so regularly.
Ken redefined happy feet. A penguin can move laterally faster than Ken could. Ken played like a guy who was about to be dumped off the back of a boat in concrete shoes. My memory of Powell was he was terrific and went from great to done overnight. Ward while a pretty decent tackle was a holding call waiting to happen. A little trivia on Haight. He was the No. 1 overall pick of the Orlando Renegades of the USFL. They ceased operations before the season he was drafted in.
Criswell was an undrafted tackle out of Memphis ? I think. He actually was a pretty solid player ...not all pro but decent. Cadigan flunked as a LT but became a decent LG. The Jets chose not to re-sign him after the 93 season I think - he went to the Bengals but didn’t stick ....overall did not live up to his draft selection.