What would be the point in that? The Jets are going nowhere this season. I doubt he'd even sign here, but let's say for a moment he would. Why pay a huge contract to a player on the wrong side of 30 who will give us 1 year of service? That makes no sense.
Not necessarily....Although OJ Howards ultimate draft spot is still yet to be determined, currently most experts have him going somewhere in the 17 to 32 range of round 1. Trading down, accumulating more picks, and still getting a great player that fills a big time need is a very real possibility.
that would be nice, not sure he will fall that far and wouldn't want to get to cute trying to "maximize value". idea of the draft is to get the best players you can, no matter where oj goes that team will have achieved that by selecting him
Even if we draft Howard or one of the other TEs, a veteran TE that could start now and mentor our rookie could be had for less than $3 mil per year. It is not like we are stacked at the tight end position. To be fair to you and your response, the list the OP put up is less than impressive.
Drafting Howard makes too much sense to ignore. It's hard to think of a better scenario for the Jets? Howard might very well be available in the latter part of round 1? If he is??? The Jets can: 1) Trade down. God knows this team has a ton of needs. Trading down and accumulating more picks can only help. 2) Howard fills a huge need not only as a TE/pass catching option, but also as a lineman. The OL is in a shambles and every Jets fan knows it. 3) Wherever he goes in the 1st round, he'd have to be considered good value? He's a BAP no matter where he goes in the 1st round.
Bennett would be nice but I believe he will also cost too much. Unless Decker or Marshall get cut, I'm not seeing Jets dropping 14M on WRs and signing higher priced TE for a non-playoff team. I'm also assuming they are prioritizing one or both OT when it comes to FA spending. Only other TE I think Jets should consider is Trey Burton (restricted FA). Trey is 25 and should not cost much. Some production, nothing game breaking. He will raise the floor for one of the weakest positions on this team's roster.
I think that Howard would start day one. There are also a couple of other TEs who, if they didn't start day one, would contribute from day one, and would be starting within the first month or two of the season. I agree that we could, and probably should sign a cheap veteran. Actually, I put up the thread, but thanks for your support. I based the list on an article that was on the first page of ganggreen.com. I didn't have time to check to make sure it was the complete list of FA TEs, but even if I had, it wouldn't have mattered much, as the number of choices we're allowed to put up in a poll are limited, and there weren't enough to even put up a "None" choice. If I had had time to check the FA TE list, I supposed I could have included a couple of names, and left off a couple of others, but then I'm sure someone would have complained that those names weren't there.
I agree that the Jets should draft a TE. We definitely need some help at TE. I'm certain that there are also probably 2-3 FAs that the Jets should try to sign. I knew a few of the names on that list, but others I didn't know. I don't want the Jets to sign an older, more expensive FA TE. I see no point in it. The team isn't going anywhere this season, and probably won't next year either. With the exception of the LT position, I think the Jets should only sign FAs who are younger (no older than 27, and even then would prefer 25 or 26) and cheaper.
Other FA TEs not included in the article upon which I based my poll (or in my poll) are: Rhett Ellison, 28 Vikings Jack Doyle, 26 Colts Jacob Tamme, 31 Falcons Gavin Escobar, 26 Dallas Clay Harbor, 29 Dolphins Matthew Mulligan, 32 Lions Tim Wright, 26 Lions Jeff Cumberland, 29 Chargers Kellen Davis, 31 Jets Logan Paulsen, 29 Bears David Johnson, 29 Steelers Jim Dray, 30 Niners Brandon Williams, 29 Seahawks Dominique Jones, 29 Dolphins Dion Sims, 26 Dolphins Levine Toilolo, 25 Falcons Ryan Griffin, 27 Texans Chris Gragg, 26 Bills I don't know anything about these bolded players, but they are in the right age range. Along with Mychal Rivera, I think the Jets should focus on signing one of these guys. Jenkins, one of these FAs, and a draft pick should make for a decent TE roster. There are also a couple of young TEs on the Jets roster. One of them could also surprise.
I agree. I didn't know about these two guys. Thanks for bringing them to my attention. I have included them on a list of FA TEs who were not included in the article.
How do you know the Jets are going nowhere? People said the same thing before 2015. If they can turn around a 4-12 team to a 10-6, surely it's doable again. Bennett is still a beast and would help the Jets drastically, compared to what they currently have at the position. I know he's older now, but I really wanted him a couple years back. If he was there in 2015, the Jets make the playoffs. If he wasn't on the Patriots last year, they don't win the superbowl with Gronk injured. I guess if you have already given up on 2017, there's no reason to sign anybody, just let the planes crash, but if the Jets are supposed to be developing a new young QB, it would be good to have a safety blanket like that. This is also why it makes sense to keep Marshall and Decker around. I know it's popular to demand a full rebuild and cut everyone after 1 bad year, but it doesn't make sense for a new QB to come into a system with no WRs or receiving TE. I think it was downright stupid to ignore the TE position for so long. Bennett is a good blocker and catcher. It's rare in the NFL to excel at both.
How do I know the Jets are going nowhere? I know this because they don't have a quality HC, they have a rookie OC, a QB Coach who is so good that he was out of the league and game for 4 years, and they have tons of holes on their roster that they can't possibly all fill this year. Yes, Bennett is a very good player, but he's also old and will be expensive. I'm sick and tired of the Jets signing older FAs. They almost never get value out of them and overpay for declining play and production. There are good young FA TEs who can both block and catch. Perhaps they aren't as good as Bennett, but then they don't have to be. Decker I would definitely keep around if he's healthy. Not Marshall. He drops too many passes and is too complacent and satisfied doing that. He caused problems in the locker room, and the Jets could get $7.5 million in cap space with which they could sign a couple, maybe 3-4 young FAs to improve depth and fill a hole or two.
Same thing was true prior to 2015, except Bowles had even less experience. With Bennett I was more about him being signed 2-3 years ago so he would be completing his deal this year or next. I get that it's a bit late for it now since his value is high and he's older, but I'd love to get a TE similar to him. I'm tired of all the guys who are either Offensive linesman or WRs, the defenses can see right through that. The Jets need a dude that can do both. It's way too early to even think about whether the Jets will have a chance in 2017, the draft hasn't happened yet. This roster could look drastically different on starting day.
Of course the roster could look radically different come starting day, but even with more experience, do you have any confidence that Bowles will have learned and improved? If so, please show me why/how. I thought Bowles was a good hiring at the time and I liked him. I still want to, but it's become very difficult, if not impossible. He just hasn't shown any growth, learning or improvement imo. At this point, I have zero confidence in him. The sad thing is, if he'd just hold players accountable and bench them when they aren't playing well, read them the riot act when they aren't prepared to play and make mental mistakes, the team would play better, perhaps a lot better. I don't see him making that change however. Couple that with a novice OC, the likelihood that the LT position won't look significantly different or better, all the holes, and I see little reason for hope for a winning record this season. At this point, I actually think a winning record in 2017 would be counterproductive. The only way I see that it would be a good thing is if Petty or Hack proved to be their FQB, they draft Watson or Mahomes and he turns out to be their FQB, Morton proves to be a great OC, and Bowles is a completely different HC this season. The likelihood of those things happening doesn't look good at the moment, so I'm hoping that the Jets win 0-2 games, Bowles is fired, but it has become clear that Morton is a good OC, and that Mac has added a lot of good players to the team, then Woody puts him in charge and allows him to hire the new HC. That coupled with a top 2-3 draft position, and the Jets could be in excellent shape for the 2018 season and going forward.
