I agree with everyone saying Vlad is hot garbage. There needs to be a press conference today announcing him as a total failure, the results of a full in-house investigation as to why a pick was wasted on him, the firing of the scouting department leading up to and including Tannenbaum, and a formal apology to all Jets fans for passing on the following players: Brandon Spikes, Charles Brown, Navorro Bowman, Jimmy Graham. Those guys were picked bw the wasted pick on steaming hot crap Vlad and Joe McKinight.
The main point of relevance at this point, since the move was already made two years ago, and it is at best, AT BEST, something that remains to be seen whether VD in fact can step it up, is this: Given Hunter's issues last year, does it make sense to count on one of the two being able to make a real contribution next year? I think not. Count on that? AYFKM? Doesn't anyone remember how the Jets went into the season with Clarke and Bender supposed to play Left Guard? They both sucked, and pretty much killed the season. This RT situation has deja vu painted all over it. What they have to do is get some help at RT. Hunter might be serviceable as a backup tackle, but counting on VD is like Waiting for Godot. (I think I get extra points for the literary reference.)
I also remember 2004 when the Jets had vacancies at both guard spots w/ 3 guys competing in TC for them. Brandon Moore, Brent Smith & Dave Yovanovits. Everybody was screaming for the Jets to go crazy and draft 10 different O-linemen, and sign every o-linemen in sight to address the issue. What ended up happening? Brandon Moore stepped up and became a long term solution at RG. At LG Yovanovits basically showed nothing & Smith was average at best. So what'd the Jets do? About a month into TC they traded for Pete Kendall who instantly gave the Jets one of the best OL's in the AFC. I really don't see any issue w/ giving Ducasse a shot at RT. He obviously has struggled mentally but the lockout created extenuating circumstances with his development & he has displayed off the chart physical capabilities.Give him a shot to play with the big boys and see if he sticks. I don't think Hunter is in the equation to be a starter. He's here as a back-up swing tackle who can be a spot starter in emergency situations. If Ducasse fails there are plenty of "plug and play" types like Vernon Carey on the open market who can be signed relatively quickly for a reasonable salary acouple weeks into TC should Ducasse falter.
In most cases it makes sense to be patient and try/hope to get the most out of your investment. Given the low cap figure, high ceiling and predraft expectations of vlad, this is one of those cases. People wanting to cut him aren't looking at the big picture.
I agree with that. I just don't think the Jets ever are willing to admit they made a mistake and move on until the actual mistake has started to really hurt the team. I think this is at least partly because their draft strategy is flawed, exercising too few picks each season and ramping up the pressure on them for those picks to succeed. Put another way: when was the last time the Jets cut one of their draft picks coming out of the first training camp? This is something good teams routinely do. The Jets? Not so much. I believe the Jets have cut one player they drafted in the first training camp since 2007, that being Nate Garner. They even kept Anthony Schlegel on the roster when it was obvious that he was not an NFL caliber player.
Yeah, I hear you. I was just pointing out the silliness of the idea of demanding a press conference to apologize for drafting Vlad.
Why would they? What purpose does that serve? You don't draft football players for today. You draft them for down the road. There are going to be peaks and valleys along the way within ALL player development. Disposing a player 2 years in solely b/c the development isn't there yet is absolutely foolish. Why even put offseason programs in place if that's the way you want to build a team? Hell why even draft players to begin with?! Just sign 53 veteran free agents every year, plug n play and cut bait with the extra fat come the offseason. That's basically what you're suggesting.
Because it's a strategy of highly successful organizations of all stripes to recognize failure and move on so that things get fixed faster? Why are we having the problem we have at RT right now? Well a big part of it is that the Jets will not admit that Vlad Ducasse is not an NFL player. If they admitted that then they'd be forced to fix the problem. Instead we hang in no-man's land with our offense held hostage to the failure to admit the mistake. Why do the Jets not have an effective pass rusher right now? Well a big part of that was the unwillingness to admit that Vernon Gholston had busted, leaving the 2009 and 2010 drafts bereft of people who might become that pass rusher. Actually it's the failure to admit mistakes that leads to bringing in veteran free agents. Because you get to the point where you need the answer right now only you've been farting around with Mr. 2nd Round for 3 years instead of cutting him and going to get the answer in the draft again.
So the Steelers don't allow their prospects a chance to take their lumps & get better before contributing? Lawrence Timmons, Max Starks,Willie Colon,Casey Hampton(had trouble staying healthy early)Mike Wallace, Rashard Mendenhall, & Ricardo Cuclough say otherwise. And don't tell me they haven't had busts...Alonzo Jackson says hi. Green Bay? Well Aaron Rodgers for one. Jermichael Finley, Ryan Grant,etc. Sure Gholston was absolutely a mistake. But does that mean looking back they should've given up on him after year one? Absolutely not. You draft players with a development plan in mind. It doesn't always go well early, just like some guys are great early but don't ever take another step. Did you think the Jets should have cut Brick after year 2? What about Bryant Thomas? Hell Shaun Ellis had a lousy second year after his big time rookie season.
You're talking apples and oranges here. There is a big difference between players who get on the field and then need to get their performance level up to stay there and players who just cannot get on the field for more than a few snaps because they were a mistake only nobody will admit it. Gholston, BTW, should have been gone at the end of 2009 by the latest. Rex had a full year to look at him then and already knew he was not a player.
I don't think I am. All the players I mentioned took lumps early. Many of whom had they had their exact course of development in green & white would've been poster boys of "collosal bust" by this fan base. If you want to focus on Ducasse, which I believe you are suggesting...You don't see any positive skills to build off? You don't see the physical dominance he has displayed on isolated plays against defenders like Haloti Ngota & JJ Watt? That alone should buy him another year on the roster. When you factor in the small school aspect & the removal of mini camps which he badly needed(See damien woody's take from last offseason), his stock is still pointing up. Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad early. Now perhaps Gholston was "all bad" which happens with certain draft picks. That's why it's a crapshoot. But that doesn't mean you cut ties after 2 years. That adversely effects the cap situation and contradicts the entire notion of building for the future with an empowered player development plan that preaches patience(Something all great franchises have)
