Of course you could just make a copy of what the NFL scout people have already published, enter the draft with that and save a lot of money in the process. Where you make a difference is finding the gem in the 4th or 5th round and I don't see where he did that.
Does Matt Slauson not count because he was a 6th rounder? What about John Conner? They may not be gems in the sense that they are superstars, but they were starters a year ago and expect to be again this year. Drafting starters late in the game is key, and I just named two off the top of my head in the last 3 drafts that they got. Thats not too shabby considering the lack of selections you guys are always bitching about.
Great post. As is the case w/ many of the Jets draft picks in the rex era..players contributed early with room for improvement. What more can you ask for in a historically crapshoot event like the draft?
exactly. How about I add a couple other guys who figure to be big contributors for us this year? Joe McKnight (KR guy and 3rd down back, taking LT's role) Jeremy Kerley our long term slot guy who played great as a rookie, and only figures to improve with time. 4th and 5th round picks respectively. Starters, not technically, but I expect them to be major contributors this year, and going forward.
good luck to him. no big deal here. he may have done a good job, but it takes an organization. hopefully we can move on as an organization with out him. hopefully, they promote from within showing that the talent has been here all along.
Show me a starter drafted 2008 or later who is clearly a plus player. You can make all the arguments you want about prospects but the fact is that the jets have brought in no impact starters via the draft since Revis and Harris in 2007. That's the main reason this window is closing on us as fast as it is.
Dustin Keller, John Conner & Mo Wilkerson. In 2008 the Jets had 8 pro bowlers. They had a top heavy roster with many well respected & talented veterans.That was the group that carried this team through 2010. Where did you expect them to add immediate impact starters? At what positions? There's nothing wrong with having high standards for your draft..but this is unreasonable & short sighted. The draft is about minimizing risk & as Tannenbaum puts it "Winning for now & building for the future". That means drafting players who fit your system, can contribute early & who have the ability to develop OVER TIME into impact players. jets have clearly done that
I'm sorry but none of Keller, Connor or Wilkerson qualifies as a plus player right now. Keller gets shut down completely when the other team decides to do that. Connor is a fullback who doesn't touch the football and the Jets rushing has been subpar since he showed up. Wilkerson held his own last year and not much more that that. Of the 3 of them Wilkerson is most likely to be a plus player, the other 2 just aren't and likely never will be. The closest thing to a plus player the Jets have drafted since 2008 is Sanchez and we've all seen his struggles to emerge in that category.
Keller has never played like a 1st round pick, Connor is presumably out of a job and Wilkerson still has to prove he should have been drafted in the 1st although he has the benefit of the doubt for at least one more year, he certainly did nothing last year to prove it.
I like Slauson and maybe he is a gem for a 6th round pick, as I said above Tannenbaum seems to be indicating Connor is out of a job.
Why would Conner be out of a job? We're supposed to be a run first team, why would we get rid of a young, cheap fullback who was rated the 7th best blocking FB in the NFL last year? I mean he's probably only going to get better. Sounds foolish to me.
The arrival of Tim Tebow puts a lot of pressure on Connor. He's not going to fit in the wildcat package because he's not a viable threat to run the ball on the option. He's not going to fit in the 3-wide sets because you need a back who can catch the ball in the backfield. That leaves just the base offense for him to function in and he's going to be fighting Tebow and the 2nd TE for downs there too. I don't think his job is really in danger but I also don't think he's going to get anywhere close to as many snaps as he had last year and he was only in about 50% of the time in the base offense then. The way the NFL is evolving at this point you really want a Richie Anderson FB/H-Back in the role that the FB used to play. If the guy can't take a few carries, catch a bunch of balls AND block well he's not going to be a plus for the offense.
It's hard to know exactly how much influence he had over who the jets picked. All he can do is present his evaluations to Tannenbaum. I do believe he is making a lateral move that the jets approved since he is going to work for his best friend (teammate) whatever. The only way he could really leave without the jets permission would be if he took a general manager position. He asked the Jets if he could make a lateral move and they obviously let him. To judge his drafting is difficult to do because of how many other variables were involved. 1) His boss kept trading away or trading up for certain players. If we go back to the 7 Tannenbaum drafts it's pretty obvious we lacked picks almost every year except 2006. 2) For some reason the Jets continue to use draft picks on running backs every year. Evey though this position has become the easiest to fill in free agency, the jets continue to use picks on RBs. (Barlow, Thomas Jones, Mcknight, Leon Washington, Green, Powell and another one this year). 3) The jets seem to draft with their heart, not their head. Trading up for Revis, Harris, Keller, Sanchez, Green, Hill and probably others. In some situations this works out, but in others you lose vital draft picks and put too much stock in a few players. Is this the work of Clinkscales or is this Tannenbaum/Rex/Mangini wanting one player so badly and not letting the board fall to them. At no point has the Jets roster had the depth in the last 6 years to trade away multiple picks for one player. 4) Taking players who don't have 2 or 3 years of high level success in college. Again, is this Tannenbaum/Rex or is this Clinkscales recommendations? Sanchez and Green were risky picks because they did not have a lot of college experience. 5) Tannenbaum seems to value undrafted free agents more then 6th and 7th round picks. I'm sure he's done a study that says that an undrafted free agent has the same chance of making the NFL as a 7th round pick but still this takes away from the scouting directors ability to help you get good players. With all of this being said and the jets using draft picks to either trade up or get veteran players, the Jets have added a tremendous amount of talent in the last 7 drafts. Brick Revis Harris Mangold Mo Wilk Kerley Keller Mcknight Slauson Pouha (not part of the last 7 drafts) Eric Smith (great role player, special teams) Leon Washington (very good player until he wanted $$$ and got hurt) Guys who still have to prove themselves: Sanchez (getting rid of Schotty has to help him) Powell Kyle Wilson Ducasse (if he has anything, Sparano will get it out of him, every team makes horrible picks and this may be one) Kenrick Ellis I personally think that the Jets have done a good job in the last 6 drafts considering how few picks actually used. I do think for the future they need to hold onto their picks and focus on drafting guys who played multiple seasons at big conference schools. I have a feeling that Clinkscales wanted to leave partially because the Jets do not put a premium on the draft the way teams like the Packers do.
Keller hasn’t been worthy of a 1st round pick? Starting every game rookie year onward, making several big catches & leading the team in receptions isn’t worthy of being a first round pick? Same with Wilkerson. He starts from day 1…makes 13 plays behind the line of scrimmage as a 5 technique…and somehow that isn’t first round worthy?? Maybe it’s time I step away from football for a while. Clearly I’ve been misinformed with how building a franchise works. Clearly a player isn’t worthy of a 1st round selection unless he’s an immediate starter from day 1, & quickly develops into a hall of famer.
Keller is going to be 28 next year and he has 213 catches for 15 TD's in the NFL. That is *not* a good receiving TE. It's an average TE and that has been true for every year that he was in the NFL. The fact that he's not a good blocker is also a huge factor. If you get average out of your 1st round pick you've made a mistake. If you trade up and get average it's a quiet disaster in the making.
Only because Tannenbaum said "Connor is our FB for now" at the conclusion of the draft...I suppose you can read that any way you want but I read it as I stated above. If I wanted to read even more into I would guess maybe Tebow will line up at FB too. Actually, what he said was even worse..he said "He is on the team for now". http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/rapid-reports/post/18893286
Yep. Have it your way. I'm done. Fire everyone & release every player if they aren't a hall of famer by the end of their rookie year. I've had enough of the irrational short sightedness. This maybe the only fan base in any sport that never gives their team even the SLIGHTEST bit of confidence & credit where it is deserved. So go head. call everyone a bust. Say the team is in ruins...a part of me hopes this team returns to the Kotite era. That's exactly what many fans of this team keep hinting at anyway.
Disagree. You're focusing too much on his entire career. He was severely underutilized by Mangini in the beginning of his career. He had the 6th most reception yds by a tight end last year. If he puts up a couple more seasons like the one he just had, he will be worth where he was drafted.
