I honestly wonder what we will do at Punter, there arent many good options out there and Conley was just so unimpressive. The free agent market consists of these punters: Mat McBriar (DAL) Matt Turk (JAC) Daniel Sepulveda (PIT) Donnie Jones (STL) Donnie Jones seems to be the best candidate on the list with an average of 44.3 yards a punt (18th in the league) compared to Conley's 42.7 avg (30th in the league). But I feel as though he benefited from being in a dome in STL. Wouldnt be a horrible signing though, lets hope a better option punter gets cut.
In 3-4, DE's job descriptions are the followings: 1. Absorb the blockers, preferably double-team. 2. Set the edge and maintain the containment so the rusher cannot reroute outside. Jets DEs outside Wilkerson is NOT doing that. I've seen DeVito SHOOTING THE GAP to stop the run, but I have not seen him take on double teams on regular basis. What are you talking about? I seriously think Jets need serious talent infusion up front because of this. It's rather funny because Wilkerson was seen taking double teams and at times TRIPLE teams. DeVito, not so much. He's doing worse than a fucking rookie for crying out loud. This I disagree as well. To me, Pouha is a rotational body, not a starter. Jets run defense this year was NOT stout by any means - and it wasn't just runs to the outside. (Stout run defense do not give up 100+ yards a game. PERIOD.) Runs up the middle gashed the defense at will, and that one falls squarely on Pouha. If the NT does not protect the ILBs, then the run defense in generall will suffer. Linebackers lack speed in general. Scott is getting up there in ages, and his replacement should come. Mauga didn't look all that promising - he looked like a rotational player that he is now. Scott had to come off during the passing downs - simply because he lacked the speed to cover. Jets need an upgrade in that position. Pace is another slow OLB that needs replacement. Combined with the DEs not being able to absorb the blockers and failing to set the edge at the first level, the slow OLBs were the death knell for run defense. Well-rounded OLB like Courtney Upshaw would surely be a step in a right direction. As for Maybin, you can never have enough pass rushers so he should come back. The question is whether he can bulk up and take his game to the next level. If he can, then the OLB spot would be set for years with Upshaw/Maybin. (Pray that this happens.) Maybin or no Maybin, Jets should still draft a few more OLBs during this draft. Like I said above, you can never have enough pass rushers. Jets do need replacement for both safety spots, but you need to remember that the likes of Kerry Rhodes could be had at 4th round. Once the front seven improves, the safety plays will also improve by that much. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As for punters and kickers: UDFAs are specifically for that role. Hope that Westhoff can unearth a gem.
As I said, we might have to wait until next year to find our stud pass rusher if the cap is a problem (especially if we resign Bryan Thomas as a stop gap). Tanny's draft record aside, a first round offensive linemen or a second round safety is usually expected to start by the end of their first year if not right away. Most pro bowlers at those positions were drafted in those rounds. Revis and Cro earn every penny, most of the bloated contracts are from our highly paid underperformers Sanchez, Holmes, Pace, Moore, Hunter, and Wilson. Sanchez really needs to take a pay cut, he hasn't shown enough for us to lower the cap by extending him. Some guys like Pace, Scott, Wilson, and even Keller could save us money if we trade them even though cutting them would earn us a cap hit. Tanny's got his work cut out for him but we only have four or five contracts that look all that bad.
I don't know why anyone in the world would want us to resign BT over Jarret Johnson. Ravens are near certain to let the guy walk and he's a god awful pass rusher but excellent run stopper. Him combined with Maybin at worst is an excellent stop gap for olb IMO. And his familiarity with rex and our system makes the transition that much easier
Is it simply a lack of speed and talent? I didn't watch a lot of their games this year, but couldn't the issues also be attributed to a lack of discipline. During the Ryan era, the Jets have ticked upwards in penalties per game every year. That can't be a trend you like seeing.
Id say at least half the jets penalties if not more come from hunter/mulligan/cromartie. So I don't think its a discipline issue so much as just players who are a mess. Good chance 2/3 are gone too Ok 22/96 penalties on those 3. That's still horrific 3 highest on the team. Bulk of our penalties were on offense so has nothing to do with this issue tho
FA vs Draft philosophy: Tanny has stated on several occasions he prefers to fill out the roster as much as possible through FA, which gives him max flexibility in the draft to grab BPA. To me, this means Tanny views the draft as 'icing on the cake', 'a luxury', NOT the meat and potatoes used to build a team. This also means Tanny is a pussy. Building through the draft takes guts and risks. It means having to 'develop' players over time. It means getting killed with the occasional 'Gholston' while searching for the next 'tom brady'. It's easier for Tanny to overpay FA's then put his career on the line every year in the draft, so that's why he does it. BUT it seems a true 'home grown' team means more than one Tanny 'bought' off the waiver wire'.
@ Zach I don't think DeVito is that good and definitely not our future at LDE, just that he will be starting next year. I still think that Sione Pouha is an important player to resign, and he is better than you give him credit for, and Wilkerson is a late 1st round pick who hopefully will get better with a full offseason. Also, I don't think we are disagreeing on anything to do with linebackers. Scott clearly isn't fast enough to cover the pass, but Mauga was and will (have to) be sufficient for next year, because we have needs greater than at ILB. The ability of Maybin to actually become an every down OLB is a huge if, which is why I was saying it might not be worth resigning him, but we probably will and he will probably share snaps with Pace. And yes, we might find a Kerry Rhodes in the 4th, but I think it's less likely now because you've got to find safeties who have the football knowledge to learn a tough position like safety, but also has the physical skills to make the plays (Leonhard and Smith both clearly lack the level I think we need in the second category). Unless you find a gem in the later rounds, most safeties chosen in those late rounds lack one or the other, and waiting until then for a position we need starters at seems a bit risky to me, but thats just my opinion.
No he cant , especially since we had more penalties last year than this year. And our defensive penalties were minimal @ best this year. Cromartie had like 6, strickland like 3, then a few guys had 2 per. We had a TON on offense tho, and quite a few on special teams
If Johnson is that much better than Thomas he is likely to cost more. Cap space is gonna be tight this year.
The other problem this year loads of teams has issues at the safety position - I was looking at a review of each teams off season needs and it seemed like every other team was looking for 1 or 2 new starting safeties - so there is going to be plenty of demand for anyone available in FA and in the draft.
I'm giving DeVito a pass because he was hurt, and also because before last season he was a top 3 run defender at his position, according to Football Outsiders stop rate metrics. As for Pouha, I completely disagree. I think the Jets problems regarding the run were related primarily to growing pains along the D-Line(Dixon, Wilkerson, Ropati) and injuries (Bryan Thomas, David Harris). I agree that both Scott and Pace looked old and slow. The Jets would have a hard time doing better than Pouha. Trading Kerry Rhodes is one of the worst moves the Jets ever made. Because he didn't "play like a Jet?" His inability to make big plays should have been overlooked in favor of his ability to prevent big plays. Anyway, if finding immediate contributor DB's were so easy, the Pats secondary would be elite by now. -X-
A few things. Do you know how many OL and safeties have been drafted in the first two rounds that couldn't contribute their first year? Don't bother looking it up, take my word for it, there's plenty. I'm not trying to say the Jets won't get any contributions from their draft class, but don't expect multiple pro bowlers. Secondly, no one is gonna trade for Pace or Scott, they make a ton of money and are getting older. Trading Wilson and Keller wouldn't save you very much money, and they would then need to be replaced. There wouldn't be any talent in the secondary past Revis and Cromartie, and the only skill position player worth a damn that would be left is everyone's favorite malcontent. I didn't mean to infer that they have a lot of "bad" contracts, it's just that I believe having that many big contracts is bad for the overall team. This off-season Jets fans are gonna find out why.
I disagree with the criticisms involving the D-line. Sure You'd like to see more penetration and shedding blocks, but I see a good rotation that includes a lot of young players with upside. Above all else,in Rex's scheme you need the D-line to win the initial "Surge". In other words,either anchor the line of scrimmage, push the O-line backwards, and above all else, not get blown backwards. This group very rarely doesn't win the surge, which is why the D is very good against inside runs. Moving forward, things are only going to get better. Wilkerson is going to continue to learn to use those long arms, which means he'll be getting off more blocks. With his freakish wing span..that will mean ALOT of plays made behind the LOS. K. Ellis maybe a year away from starting, but he projects as a pro bowl NT. He gets a great initial surge and his size makes it very hard for centers/guards to re-anchor on him. Once he learns to use better pad level he'll get even better, and much like Wilkerson will start getting off blocks. This is one of the things I'm most excited about moving forward. This defense will look completely different once this D-Line starts disengaging people.You add in an improvment in athleticism to the center of the D, and this unit will be right back to being dominant.
I tend to agree with Kurt about the Dline. I thought this past year it was actually the most solid unit on the club. DeVito being out was a problem, and the Jets seem to not be too sure about K Ellis yet. I hope Kurt is right about him. But Pouha had a very good year, and Wilkerson was pretty solid for a rookie. Dixon contributed frequently as well. Given my assessment I would not be surprised if the FO did essentially nothing, other than resigning Pouha, on this unit. Good, since there's plenty of work to be done elsewhere.
According to pro football focus Johnson was ranked the #1 olb against the rush,however the worst against the pass. Makes him worthless to a lot of teams if you ask me. Unless you have someone like Maybin of course Not many teams want an OLB that can't play on 3rd down
If you look at the salary cap for each player, there really isn't alot of give. Trading those guys may be the only way to make a bad situation slightly less bad. Chances are they aren't going anywhere.
