This is true. Now, reality check: how many sacks did Wilkerson have? How many forced fumbles? How many tackles for a loss? Ok, now look at Shaun Ellis in the Jet's 3-4/4-3 in 2000. How many sacks? How many forced fumbles? How many tackles for a loss? Wilkerson looks like a player in this league. He does not look like a star.
Sorry to hi-jack again, especially in the draft forum. Just have to say Wilson shows promise. If you believe he hasn't lived up to his billing you probably remember a few plays where the result could've been better. It's human nature. But there were entire games where he didn't have his name called by the announcers. He's got promise. Also can't deny we needed a QB when Rex got here. Now, we didn't get Cam Newton or Peyton Manning but we got a guy who has been progressing and should continue to (depending on rest of offseason--I feel like I say this in every post.) We got him for 3 JAGs, a 2nd round pick and a first swap. That's a good price when you need a QB. Wilkerson will continue his rise and learn how to better use his frame to get leverage against these NFL level Gs and Ts. I have zero concerns as far as he's concerned. I don't think our problem has been in the first. It's been the lower rounds where we used to have guys like Rhodes, Brad Smith, Leon Washington. Now we have McKnight, Powell et al from those regions of the draft. As for this year's draft...I feel Mike Adams is going to be a liability in the pros. I usually don't consider myself studied enough to dismiss any player with a round 1 grade, but I'm just not a believer.
Ellis averaged 5 sacks the last 6 years, not counting the pats where he did nothing Im not gonna compare Eliis in a dif system 10 years ago to mowilk in this one Altho Wilk has more safeties last year than Ellis entire career ! And blocks more paases, plus their FF avg is nearly the same so
I think it's safe to say a 12th overall pick from Fullmer's best years at Tenn is more NFL ready than the 30th overall from Temple. Once he gets the coaching he will be a force. The tools and dedication are there.
Our problem has been in the 1st and 2nd rounds. That's why the Jets talent level is below the elite teams. The fact that we also give away later picks like they have no value has exacerbated the problem and made the Jets dependent on players that other teams were willing to lose. You do not win championships when the roster is full of guys other teams decided were not worth keeping.
No way, our problem is depth. We just got done with two really successful seasons and then we hit an injury snag and a few miscalculations by Tanny as far as RT and split end are concerned. Thus, offense regressed and LBers aged and the Thomas injury and the D regressed. That's later round issues. I agree about giving away picks but there are times where we've gotten really good value out of moving our picks around. There are times where it didn't pan out so geniously also. And we are doing a good job of getting rid of guys a year before and not a year too late. Faneca, Ellis, Brad Smith when his value was too high, Woody, Rhodes when he wouldn't 'play like a Jet', L Washington. This is all very Steelers, your golden standard. We are hamstrung at RT but Hunter evidently fooled everyone in the '11 playoffs and Holmes turned into an asshole when the offense was sputtering. I know you think Holmes was a bad idea in the first place but I bet you were whistling Dixie just like I was when he played a huge role in 4 comebacks in 2010. If we are going to laud Tanny for his magic at the cap we have to recognize he makes sacrifices to get things done. (bad Scott, Pace, questionable Hunter contracts). Not everything is going to work out, but hell we have been to the playoffs what, 7 times since Woody came in? Cant be all bad.
We've drafted Vernon Gholston, Dustin Keller, Mark Sanchez, Kyle Wilson, Vladimir Ducasse and Mo Wilkerson as our 1st and 2nd round picks since 2008. If you think that's not the problem on this team you don't really understand what is going on. That's 3 average players, a nickelback and 2 busts over that span. Yes, the depth is killing us but the fact that we're not drafting great players early any more, not even drafting particularly good ones, is the main issue. And the scary thing is that we may well have given up on Sanchez by this time next year which would make the 2008 to 2011 period damn near a wipeout for the Jets talent base.
The charges being dropped is not the same thing as him being cleared. He may have entered into a pretrial intervention or lack of evidence. The NFL goes by drug testing. If they really want to know the truth they will take a sample of his hair and it will show if/when he ever did drugs. You can cleanse urine, but not hair.
I'm admittedly much more concerned now than I was last offseason or even after we signed Landry for the longevity of success this regime is capable of. But they have bought themselves some more leeway than they're getting after an 8-8 campaign. Gholston was a bust. Wasn't he Mangini's prize? And I guess we'll just agree to disagree on Wilson and Wilk until further notice. I think these guys are nice assets. Keller is not great but he was top 10 in most categories in a weird offense that had no pace or rhythm. We didn't hit a homerun, thats all. And we shouldn't take away from Kyle because we have Cro. If you want to dislike the Cro trade, that's fine. But a pro bowl CB is going to start over most dudes drafted in the later part of round 1 in the early part of their careers. Sanchez's contract says the football guys in the FO believe the same as I do about him. He will improve like has been his tendency. He's the biggest question but still improved despite a sharp decline in the talent around him. I dunno I think that as often as we have been enjoying success there really isn't a need to forecast doom until they at least have a losing season together. Yes, the Tebow thing could be the catalyst. Still I prefer to think more optimistically so I'm not miserable about the Jets before they even have a chance break my heart.
You're overreacting on Wilk and KW. Wilkerson was a rookie with no offseason who played well. KW had a great year last year and was much improved. Not to mention they were picks at the very end of the 1st round. Gholston is a bust, Vlad we will find out this year, and Sanchez is not a bust he's just not a star we hoped which is disappointing. DK is also very average.
I'm not over-reacting on Wilson and Wilkerson. Yes, they were end of the first round picks with all the talent issues that can cause but the facts are that they have also played like decent players, not stars in waiting. Most stars in the NFL will show clear signs of being a star by the end of their first season. Yes, people do progress and become better over time but for most players if they're going to be great there's really no doubt after their first exposure to the NFL. The Jets reaction to seeing Wilson on the field in 2010 was telling. They decided to spend a lot of money re-signing a player with obvious flaws instead of letting Wilson just take the position. By bringing Cromartie back at an expensive price-tag the Jets admitted that their first round pick from the year before was unlikely to develop into a star player. They took away his best chance to do so by taking away his chance to start and play every down. Wilkerson has only played one season and had no off-season before that so the fact that he didn't turn heads last year with his play on the line isn't critical at this point. He did not however become a force in the Jets defensive scheme with all signs pointing to a star level career.
I agree with Bradway. I think back to John Abraham, Nick Mangold, and Revis. All three of those from minute one you could just tell they were going to be stars. Conversely, you could tell right away that Dwayne Robertson, Gholston and Ducasse were walking bags of shit.
and then there are guys like D'Brick who everyone swore up and down was a walking bag of dog shit, and suddenly blossomed into a perrenial all-pro.
Wilson is indeed a NB, for now. His contract is up after 2014, the same year as Cro. I think that prioritizing depth among the CBs is a result of having Revis. You can't have the best player in the game at a position (while paying him like he is) and allow him to be totally neutralized. Kyle's first TC he was outside and then Revis strolled in with about two weeks left. You went from grouping Mo in a group called "average" to saying he's not a star yet. Which is all I was trying to say. We haven't busted on anyone in the first in this regime. Both of these guys have shown nothing but improvement and I see no reason to expect anything else.
Pouha, Bryan Thomas followed similar paths. Slauson is a two year starter for us from the 6th round after an entire year of no PT. It's not unreasonable to expect improvement from these players when that's all they've shown. I'm not even going to write off Ducasse yet, although the pen's pretty close to the paper at this point. Rex isn't retarded, he's been around football his entire life. Until the Jets have a replacement at RT then I have to assume the people that are with him every day on the practice field have a reason to be optimistic.
