Belichick has always had the final say on all personnel matters, including contracts. Pioli was "his guy" from the Cleveland days and I'm sure that his opinion was valued, but in the end, the Patriots are and always have been 100% Bill's ship. I'm not sure what other personnel moves you're talking about aside from Elllis and Haynesworth, but Pioli has been gone for two seasons and the Patriots have gone 10-6 and 14-2 in that time. I'm not sure what a personnel guy would have had to do with playoff wins and losses. They were out-coached and out-played in both of the last two postseasons. Had little or nothing to do with the talent on the roster, which was clearly good enough to do better than two consecutive one-and-dones.
Will the Jets-Patriots games this year get primetime coverage? lol. Sunday night and Monday nights only!
He never did but if Wilkerson wasn't showing anything you can bet your ass the Jets offer of vet's minimum would have been raised substantially. I bet if Wilkerson looked to be in over his head, Ellis would still be a Jet.
Ryan named Wilkerson the starter after seeing him in what, one padded practice? That was also before Hunter was allowed to play and Moore was on the sideline. Do you really think anyone, even the great Rex Ryan, can make a solid judgement on whether or not this kid could play after one practice against a couple backup lineman? You'll excuse me if I find that line of thinking absurd.
Who knows for certain, Hazmat. When Ocho signed it was reported for weeks that he was going to make 6MM this year. Turns out today it was reported that he will make 6MM alright, but only if he's on the team for THREE years. Same goes for Haynesworth. We all assumed he had a contract for $5.4MM, well again today its being reported that his actual contract for this year is $1,5MM IF he makes the team. He also has incentives that can increase his pay up to that$ 5.4mm mark. It looked to me that about $2MM of those incentives could be reached if he is playing decently, and if he earns the rest, BB will be thrilled to give him the money, because that would be he had a "all pro" year. For me I'll settle for him just being better than what we had last season.
I can understand the Jets wanting to get younger on the DL, especially when the bulk of your LBs are aging as well. However Ellis would have been a perfect mentor for those kids (much like Crumpler was to Gronkowski and Hernandez) He played a big role in their successful rookie years. But the Jets spend big bringing back Cromartie and Holmes, and have a LOT of other big contract on defense. Yyou can't keep everyone. At his age and contract Ellis was the most likely to go. But what I don;t understand is why Rex didn't bring in ANY DL vets to at least ease your rookies development and provide real competition. I HAVE to think that the Jets are going to bring in some more help on the DL. I know the Pats are going to have a few decent proven NFL DLmen who are going to be available on cut down day.
There have been reports that Jets brass didn't want Ellis around the rookies because he didn't practice hard. RR/Pettine are high on Ropati Pitoitua, who missed all of last year, and Marcus Dixon at DE. Them, along with Wilkerson, DeVito and one of Gilbert/Washington/other will make up the DE rotation. I think it's possible they bring back Trevor Pryce if they think the young'ns aren't cutting it during TC, but from what we've heard they're holding their own. Kenrick Ellis and M Teveseu are backing up Pouha at NT. The DL is pretty set, actually. A lot of no-namers, but RR/Pettinne know a thing or two about the DL.
Two points: On the merits, it is not an either or choice that by the point a decision on what to offer Ellis had been made, that the CS was of a view that Wilkerson was either playing lights out or sucked. He could have then been somewhere in the vast middle, which in turn might have meant were Ellis's contract situation not what it was, the CS would have been prepared to go forward in camp and let the better player show himself, and that in turn would mean it was not a done deal that Ellis was not the starter. Since there is no hard evidence I am, or anyone else is, apparently, aware of that the CS had by that point chosen Wilkerson to start already, the point is that statements based on speculation of that sort are not factual. And that is the second point - I have noticed an uptick this week in the occurence of statements based on mere speculation offered here as factual assertions. I would hope we could limit that sort of thing, and I certainly try to label my mere opinions as such.
Feigning objectivity is the single most annoying thing about posters from other teams posting on another team's message board. Cute.
C'mon Jake. A guy plays over a decade on a team with a flawless reputation for being a great locker room guy, then suddenly after he leaves, there are "reports" he didn't practice hard? Lets not be naive, buddy. Those "reports" are coming from either low lever FO sources trying to do some PR repair work, or just more internet gossip from Jet fans who are pissed at Ellis for going to the Pats. All these guys might work out fine and the Jets DL won't skip a beat. All I'M saying is with the exception of Divito (who isn't going to be mentioned in any all pro discussions....even by Jet fans) the rest of you DL are pretty much HUGE question marks. You can surely HOPE, but you have very little to go on to KNOW how it will go with them. So you have a question mark being backed up by an even BIGGER question mark. Again, it might all work out fine. The Pats won 14 games last season playing a lot of guys with even lower pedigrees than what the Jets have going for them. BTW I think there is talent in the Jets DL group, but very little experience.
There was no "thinking" involved. He was named the starter and he will be the starter. If Ellis came back or not he would have been a backup. And yes I think the great Rex Ryan can decide who he would rather have start games for him.
Judging by your posts it's pretty obvious there isn't much "thinking" involved. Rex Ryan naming Wilkerson the starter does NOT mean that Wilkerson has proven himself to be a NFL starting caliber player. If you were capable of taking off the green glasses you would understand that no rookie can prove himself after a couple of training camp practices. During the draft everyone said Wilkerson was a very talented player, but the reason he was available at #29 was because he was a very raw player and would taking time to develop. I can't wait to see all the "Wilkerson is the next Gholston" threads when he inevitably doesn't meet these ridiculous expectations.
Please. I was away for over two weeks on vacation. Does anyone have a link to a source where Ryan named Wilkerson the starter before Ellis signed with the Pats? For that matter a link to after he signed would also be helpful. Thanks.
I never presented my opinion as a fact. I was speculating that if the Jets didn't see promise in Wilkerson or that he was sinking, the Jets would have raised their offer substantially. Additionally, another younger lineman could have been showing enough promise as to quell any doubts and allow the FO to move forward without Ellis. We have seen in the past that Tanny moved rather quickly to secure another player if they feel their current crop isn't cutting it. That is what I based my opinion on. It is prudent management to do this, I think Tanny has showed he makes prudent decisions. No, I have no inside info.........
JennyVrentas Jenny Vrentas RT @RapSheet: Shaun Ellis contract info: The ex-Jets DE got $750K signing bonus, $1.5M base, $1.75M roster bonus from Pats
Really not hard to find..google is just the thing. http://turnonthejets.com/2011/08/new-york-jets-training-camp-wilkerson-named-starter-right-decision/
