I agree.. I'd rather bring Taylor back at a cheap number than Bryan Thomas with his over 3 million dollar cap number. Taylor was very average this year, but he could be invaluable to the rookie pass rushers we are undoubtedly going to be bringing in via the draft. And really for 1.5 million or whatever he'd be playing for, we could do a lot worse. And I expected that about Jenkins for a while now too.. hopefully they can come to an agreement. I can't imagine too many teams will be lining up to sign a guy who only played 7 games the past 2 years for big money, so the Jets can hopefully fit him in.
I don't want Taylor on this team again. He's old and washed up. Dude looks like he's 90 out there. I'd much rather see a younger guy taking those snaps, even if it's an UDFA.
Whether we get rid of Taylor, Thomas or both we need to replace a lot of snaps. Taylor, Pace and Thomas were pretty close to one-third/one-third/one third split, (Pace played 821, Taylor 730 and Thomas 714) so you're asking for a huge contribtion from the younger guy or younger guys.
Pace also missed 4 games to injury that Taylor had to pickup the slack. Hopefully he can stay healthy, but regardless I'd much rather have someone other than Taylor on the field. He's done.
The Pace injury did lead Taylor to play more than he might have, agreed, and he doesn't have much left. But he appeared to be in the right place most of the team, he made a few good plays, and as crappy as he was it's just really hard to find a good OLB in this league (think of Gholston-fast, tough, coordinated smart 260 pound guys who like football are just really rare). I fear that upgrading the OLB slot is a lot harder than we think.
I don't think it will be difficult at all to replace what Taylor gave us. I'd be surprised if an UDFA wasn't better.
Taylor wasn't good but was he so bad that an UDFA would have been better? I think Rex and Tanny are smart and if Taylor was UDFA/Waiver wire bad they would have benched him and brought someone in.
nyjets . Throw $1,650,000 in the pot now for Hartstock. edit: btw 0 money in dead money for Mr. Hartstock.
You can't replace the type of experience he brings to the position group. If we're going to draft a pass rusher or two, he'll be extremely valuable. I remember you being one of the guys that had some kind of grudge against Jason Taylor...stop being biased because he talked shit to fans when he was on a rival team.
Presumably Cumberland can do everything Hartsock can? Obviously Hartsock is going to catch 8 TDs for New England next season.
...that's not true Under Mangini: 2006: Anthony Schlegel, Kellen Clemens, Drew Coleman, Eric Smith, Jason Pociask, and Titus Adams 2007: Jacob Bender 2008: Vernon Gholston, Erik Ainge, Marcus Henry, Nate Garner I could look up free agent signings too, but this pretty much proves my point. Tanny's drafts under Rex Ryan have been much better though...
I agree.. honestly, I doubt he will be back, but if he came back for like 1.3 million or near the veteran minimum then it's really not a bad situation at all. If he gets hurt or is clearly washed up then he can be cut. But if he plays like last year then we have a serviceable backup who can help out with the young pass rushers we are hopefully going to bring in. Saying an UDFA rookie would have been able to step in and outproduce Taylor last year for a team that had Super Bowl aspirations and had a bigger impact on the team is just not true imo. How many udfa rookies step in as a 3-4 OLB and play even average their first season, if they even make a team? In fact, lots of first round picks step in and don't even play that well at that position. There's a certain asshole who wore #56 here 3 years ago as a rookie who is proof of that.
You consider Coleman as a 6th round pick, who is still here as our nickel back to be a bad pick? I mean I don't like the guy, but in the 6th round that's not too bad. Eric Smith isn't that bad either. The rest are mostly late round picks too.. except for Schlegel who Mangini loved for some reason.
I doubt Cumberland can be as an effective of a blocker as Hartstock, but they must have plans for him if they kept him on the roster all year. Maybe they have Mulligan pegged for that role, or are just going to use an extra lineman instead. Hartstock was useless as a receiver, so what's the difference.
