Well Its not like a fricken bomb goes off. All RB's decline in production after hitting 30. Some quicker than others.
If we want to maintain TJ's production and spotless medical history with us, we need another back, besides Leon. A back who can take over for him after the 2-3 years he is still productive.
What on Earth is wrong with some of you here? Do you guys not use common sense??? This is one of the worse stat in the NFL!!! So what if TJ didn't carry the ball 15+ times a game??? Does he not f*ckin practice like the other backs??? They all freakin practice every freakin day of the wk. If they didn't, they wouldn't be in the NFL. Fair enough he didn't carry the ball 15 times a game, rather 10 times a game, so what? 6,7 less carries a game makes him 5 years younger??? 6 extra carries a WK probably only takes 3 extra minutes in practice...so much for your observation! Seriously though, people think NFL is all about 20 Sundays in a year!
Haha! Ive never thought about that. Now that I think about it.. IMO the only reason more carries are bad, is because you're more susceptible to injury. Injuries should be the only factor in determining a backs remaining juice. Now I am arguing FOR Jones. Nahhh, hes still just not very good.
Very few NFL practices nowadays are done "live" in full pads. Most are done either in uppers or just helmets with little to no contact. The majority of wear-and-tear to players comes from the games themselves.
So are you saying if Leon Washington stops playing in the NFL and just works on his conditioning until he is 35, he would still have 5 more years in him? Where I respect your effort of backin up the thread, I just don't think that carrying the ball 5 extra times in your first five years will squeeze a few extra years out of you. As for TJ, I think he's pretty good. He may last until he's 35, but trust me when I say this: Its not going to be because he didn't start carrying the ball 200 times a season until his 5th season. Its only going to be because of the age. Sure enough he doesn't take hits in every practice, but he still does run the usual. His body takes the toll from the running. Its really hard to say how long he'll last. He may be done already. See Alexander and Curtis for example. A year after they were the NFL rushing champs, they hit the wall...Curtis Martin was 31 where as Alexander was only 28 or 29 when he hit the wall. As for a new contract for TJ, I say f*** it. Let him bitch about it. He only played good when we invested millions of dollars into that OL. He sucked behind the crappy Jets OL the year before and he sucked in his early 20s when he ran behind the crappy Arizona OL. That only tells me that another RB can provide similar production. Rather get a rookie and pay him rookie money that to throw more money at him. He got a 4 yr $20 mil contract. Thats on avg. $5 mil a yr. Some of these jerks that so call them analyts and experts base their arguments purely on base salaries. Well what about the signing bonus? Was that just a bonus and you take it out of the equation? Even $5 mil a yr would be too much for someone who only produces behind a good OL. I would rather give Keller a few more extra years on his contract since he young and we know that the odds are, he won't hit a wall at age 23, before give TJ an extra penny above what he has earned...actually he did earn it. He received it in form of a great OL play and a poor first yr outing. Go $%^& yourself TJ if you're reading this. You did the same damn thing before in Chicago as well and the beat seems to be going on...Im pissed and rightly so!!! http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/03/18/thomas-jones-skipping-offseason-workouts/
He may or may not. We could discuss it until we are blue in the face and neither of us would be right or wrong. But this thread isn't about Leon, it's about TJ. Sure, it's easy to dismiss 5 or 6 carries a game as not seeming like much. But multiply that by the weeks and years that encompass a players career and it amounts to a respectable number. Sorry, but I'm just not buying into this. Simple running doesn't put any abnormal stress on your body and it doesn't make TJ any different from any other athlete in the world. Hell, I read an article not all that long ago about a 94 year old man who was still running marathons. And as I said above, TJ is known for keeping himself in tip top shape year round. It's taking the punishing hits week in and week out that ultimately do the players in, which is exactly why NFL teams have gone by the way of the uppers-only no contact practices. I agree with you here. The greediness of pro athletes is absolutely disgusting. They want to be paid more after good years but do they give money back after poor years? Hell no they don't. One way or another, the TJ situation needs to be dealt with before it becomes a big distraction. Whether that be just throwing him the money to keep him quiet, or seeing if he has at least some trade value, I don't know. But these things become a cancer quick. I also agree that we should lock Keller up ultra-long term before he will get ridiculously expensive. You are a breath of fresh air, Jets n Boys. I enjoy when I can have a civilized, intelligent disagreement with a fellow fan without it turning into sarcasm or name-calling as seems to happen all to often around here.
Cartilage shrinking, eyesight and hearing deteriorate, reflexes, muscle mass and flexibility deteriorates when you age shouldn't be a concern. Ageing isn't all about wear and tear it's a process that impacts every aspect of the body. Can experience and knowing how to take care of your body over come those things?
To a point yes, but not for ever and you know that. :smile: Jones age is his age. He will not recover from playing time and injurys as fast as he would have 3 years ago. Its a simple fact. To over look that because of a lack of carries is silly.
The Jets need to draft another back no matter what. Jones is one hit away from IR and no way can Washington handle the load. After those two they have basically nothing. If they don't get Cutler or another proven RB they should look to draft one in the 1st round. If they do get a QB they should still draft one on day 2.
The fact that you don't think any of those backs are bruisers is.. well... not believable. And we are not off topic, you just don't like the alternative, and I think you are wrong, and I am not alone. You are arguing that we need to keep depending on Thomas Jones, because you personally do not think, in the face of glaring trends to the contrary, that Thomas Jones is going to decline due to his own metabolism slowing down, injuries not healing as quickly, and general conditions of age taking it's toll on the body of a player who plays such a violent game like football. There's a reason why the average life-expectancy of a football player is 65 years old. I think TJ still has some left in the tank, but he is only going to get worse from this point - you don't give a new contract for something like that unless it plans on lessening his role at some point, and I doubt his agent has that in mind. At a position of common success in the NFL, you go with youth. The Broncos had this down to a science for a long time. You don't overpay for a resource of plentiful commodity, that is a simple concept which you don't seem able to understand.
Aite bro I was probably a bit harsh on you in my initial post, but thats just my opinion, nothing personal. I got your back man...(just not 1n this thread )
We havent seen Washington as a full time back so far. The closest he got was his rookie year, and he has been getting better and better. He started 8 games his rookie season and did pretty good to say the least. IMO, I think LW can be good starting back but he is best utilized while he stays fresh, with about 10 carries a game. http://www.nfl.com/players/leonwashington/gamelogs?id=WAS503628&season=2006
Age and carries are both part of the proposition. Anybody who thinks otherwise is probably south of 30 themselves. Thomas Jones is very likely to be done this year or next. That he doesn't have the carries that Curtis Martin had at this age is an important factor, however he also doesn't have the nearly superhuman pain threshold that Curtis had or the will and drive that let him go for 14k+ yards at 4 yards a carry. Very few people do.
I think there's a good reason why TJ has relatively few carries. And its the same reason why you don't give him a fat contract. He's just not that good.
Well Jones' lack of "mileage" early in his career probably helped avoid degenerative injuries like Curtis had, but the fact of the matter is the older you are, the more prone to injury you become. And the older you are, the slower you recover from those injuries. TJ is in great shape and has a clear injury history, but I can't justify giving a 31 year old RB big bucks. He'll return this year, but I would love to draft a RB this season so we have a replacement for next year.
The backs that I consider "bruisers" are few and far between. I guess you and I have different standards as to what exactly defines a "bruiser". I think you are wrong, and have not been alone either. We are all entitled to our own opinion. No one is saying that he needs to get a bogus new bloated contract that re-ups him for another 5 years. The fact of the matter is we have the cap room and if it takes a little extra money for him to keep his mouth shut and just play football, we'd be stupid not to do it. Do you not think he's hurting the team by holding out of the off-season program? I have been following the Cutler situation very closely and the possibility of him coming to New York is very real, IMO. And if that deal goes down it will no doubt cost us multiple draft picks in April, and with other more pressing needs we will no longer have the luxury of drafting a RB this year. You are failing to see the big picture.
