Watching the game last night it was clear the Jet's are getting old and have limited athletic ability at a few key positions. Our Safeties arenot NFL caliber starting players. If the Jet's expect to compete against New England's TE, the safety position is a huge need. What's with Bart Scott?. Scott is overrated, he's not a dominate force in the middle. Wayne Hunter is terrible, he's the weak link of the O-line. Matt Slauson is playing at a much higher level than Hunter. The Jet's need another Tight end that is balanced, with good hands and blocking skills. Plaxico is still a work in progress and his age is a concern. Plaxico can't get separation from receivers and Sanchez's accuracy on the "high ball to Plaxico isn't working. 1) VONTAZE BURFICT, ILB, Arizona State.....one of the most intense players I've ever seen. He's almost a clone of Ray Lewis. Rex will watch tape of this player and insist Tanny pulls the trigger. 2) MARKELLE MARTIN, S, Oklahoma State......a player in the Cowboy secondary that is rising up the draft board. Martin seems to have good coverage skills and is a solid tackler. Are we going to let New Englans' tight Ends dominate for the next 5 years?? 3) MATT REYNOLDS, OT, BYU........an excellent pass blocker that could start at RT very quickly. Reynolds needs to be a better runblocker, a product of BYU's system. 4) BJ CUNNINGHAM, WR, Michigan State...........a favorite of mine. Cunningham makes the tough catch and is physical. I've compared him to a poor man's Hakeem Nicks. Great hands, solid route runner, that should be a solid #2 NFL WR. I like Cunningham better than Nick Toon. I think Jet Fans have overrated Nick Toon, he's good, but not woth a high draft pick. 5) JAKE STONEBURNER, TE, Ohio State..........a red zone target with great hands and a willing blocker. Ohio State sucks this year, no QB, but Stoneburner is making plays. A huge upgrade over Matt Mulligan. 6) JONATHAN MASSAQUOI,DE/OLB, Troy......a pass rush demon. His numbers are down ffrom last year. Another Troy DE.....if he's half as good as DW it will be worth it. I'm giving Westerman more props and believe he could be our starter next to Pace all next year. I'm not as high on iinvesting a 1st Rd pick on OLB with Westerman and Maybin 6) BRIAN QUICK, WR, App State....a huge red zone target to add depth.
Huge fan of the Burfict, Stoneburner, and Cunningham picks. In a relatively weak tight end class, Stoneburner may go higher than he should. Brian Quick looks like the best offensive FCS prospect in this year's draft. Jonathan Massaquoi has been one of your favorite prospects for a while now. I think the secret's out. He's rising. I wouldn't be surprised if he went in the late first or early second round. He'd have to get that kind of grade to leave a mid-major school early. I don't like any of the 2012 safeties enough to spend more than a fifth on them. These guys all look like role players to me. I'm with you on the fact that we need to stop New England's tight ends, but we can't reach for a player because they've hurt us this year. It's sort of similar to drafting Mike Nugent after Doug Brien ended our season a few years back. In my opinion, we need to upgrade at both safety spots and free agency is the best way to do that. I can't argue the Matt Reynolds selection. He's a very solid player that has the ability to start at the next level. Although I don't agree with everything you've done in this mock, I see where you're coming from. Nice job, man.
Reynolds late in rd 3 and especially Stoneburner late in rd 5 aren't really likely. They'll prob go higher don't you think? That said it's a good idea to throw their names in there. I think given the needs at TE & FS and the weakness at those positions in this draft we might go the trade route... Also we are stuck with Scott for one more year so I really don't think we'll go ILB this time around, at least not in rd 1.
Scott fell of a goddamn cliff this off-season. He's gone from 1/2 of the best ILB tandem in the league to an outspoken Eric Barton. The offensive side of the ball definitely needs drafted help, but if Burfict is there, we take him.
Love the Burfict pick. I can't think of a better player to put next to David Harris. Hopefully Rex doesn't have an attack of Herman Edwards-style loyalism and hold onto someone for far too long. I'm with MrE on this year's safeties. I think FA is going to be the best option to bring in at least a mild upgrade. Even if we don't find a starter this year I'd settle for at least one stop-gap upgrade that puts Smith back at the #3 position. Don't like waiting to round 4 to take a WR. Someone could be available in the FA but we NEED to bring in a young replacement for Plax regardless of whether or not he gets resigned(I can't really care either way). Since we can't justify spending the money on most of the worth-while names in FA, this draft would be a great time to do it. That being said, I still like Cunningham in the 4th. I think that would be a good place for him if we can't find someone early(or Nick Toon).
Right now I thinks it's less than a 50% chance the Jets make the playoffs. It's possible, I never rule out anything. Hell, there were at least a half dozen players last draft that weren't even drafted and predicted to be at least Rd 4 picks. Reynolds needs to get more physical in the run game, he has the size, needs to use strenght. Stoneburner numbers have come down some from the first few games of the year. Stoneburner would be a good fit for Indy to replace an old Dallas Clark. I'd like to see the Jets keep more of their draft picks and develop some young players.
This I agree with. LEt's keep all our picks this time around and build through the draft. I wasn't expecting you to be so pessimistic on our play-off chances!
Appreciate your comments. I haven't been a big fan to spend a high pick on a safety, untill last night. Eric Smith is a role player and can't cover. Martin is someone that has caught my eye the last few weeks with OK State being in the national picture. Massaquoi's numbers are way down, I think he has only 1 sack this year. I'm hoping he falls thru the cracks. I'm biased when it comes to BJ Cunningham, he graduated from my Wife's High School. I can't believe OSU let him get away.
I was very optimistic until last night's rape fest. We are not going to win the AFCE now, New England has a cupcake schedule. The wild card has many teams in play.....Jets, Cincy/Pitt/ Balt/Tenn(one wins the division), Oakland/San Diego (I expect them to get hot, they always finish strong).
...just looked up his stats: 3.5 sacks and 8 TFLs. His numbers definitely went down. I think he'll stay for his senior season after this.
JMass was a freak last year, he was unblockable. I really don't know the reason for his drop off, don't see Troy games except highlights. I was expecting to get more heat from not drafting a OLB much earlier.
I feel like a player like Burfict can have a very big impact. He's got the ability to be an every down backer. In the NYJ forum, I started a thread about this team not getting any better from last year. The team speed is so slow in the front seven - David Harris is the only sideline-to-sideline player. Burfict would give us another one. ...no more outside runs for the opposition. If the staff decides to replaced Bart Scott, Burfict is the guy to kill those shoes. He's borderline insane.
Great work as usual. Love Burfict, one of 3 or 4 linebackers I would like to pick up in the first round. Martin is a good player and is one of 3 safeties I'd feel comfortable taking before the 4th round (McDonald and Lester being the other 2). Backup TE is a definite need, havent seen much Ohio State this year but if you say Stoneburner is a definite upgrade over Mulligan, ill take your word for it. Ive really zeroed in on mid round receivers this year because I believe theres a pretty good chance we take multiple WR's between the 2nd-6th rounds. Brian Quick is a guy that I really really like, and definitely think hes more in the 3rd to 4th round range, even with the surplus of receivers this year. Great job WW, filled a lot of needs. Just curious, any contemplation over taking a D-lineman (preferably that could push the pocket a bit) in the mid rounds, or just not enough picks?
Love this draft. Burfict and Reynolds are my top 2 targets with the 1st and 3rd picks. I haven't seen much of Martin or Cunningham, but they make sense positionally.
Big fan of Burfict, he reminds me of an impact player like Patrick Willis or Ray Lewis. He just seems like he plays crazy and someone I think Rex would really like. He would also give this defense speed and an intensity somewhat like what James Harrison gives the Steelers.
Burfict is a top 10 talent, but is going to fall due to some issues. Burfict is a walking timebomb and at times, plays out of control. The NFL will keep a close eye on Burfict's actions. My guess right now Burfict will be a late teen/early 20's draft choice. Some teams will pass, Rex will not.
He's an easy-going, soft spoken kid off the field. When he puts the pads on though, a switch goes on. It takes a special kind of crazy to play in Bart Scott's role. Burfict can do it.
The Ray Lewis connection makes me believe Burfict is going to be on Rex's wishlist. Rex is going to have to make a few tough choices with his former Ravens....Scott & Leonhard. Both players have become liabilities and throw in Eric Smith out with the bathwater for good measure.
I can see it being a tough choice for Leonhard, if only because he's supposed to be coordinating the defense when he's on the field. We need a huge, positive turnover at both safety and LB. LB is going to be guaranteed with at least one player leaving the team after this season.
Does anyone know what Scotts new contract looks like on a year to year basis? I know he took a pay cut this year. If given an ultimatum I think Scott would choose to take an additional pay cut than to sign with someone else. He knows that no one else is really going to want him that badly and I don't know if at this point in his career he really wants to play for someone else. This free agency period is going to be nuts to say the least
