6 years later after the Jets traded John Abraham for a first round pick, 29th overall ended up picking Mangold. Based off those years which player would you rather of had.
I don't think it's as open and shut in Mangold's favor as some think. Premium pass rushers like Abraham are very rare. The factors that gives the edge to Mangold are age and health. He stays on the field; Abraham doesn't.
John Abraham is 34 years old. Are you guys who would rather have him right now nuts? The more appropriate question is who would you rather have: Nick Mangold or Chris Long and that's a closer question. I'd go with Mangold mainly because we know that if you flank him with good linemen you will absolutely be able to run the ball and protect the QB. Long is a great individual player but he doesn't make the players around him better.
BTW this post reminds me of the line about Fred Lynn about 35 years ago (damn I'm old) when he was absolutely destroying the AL spraying balls off of the Green Monster. One of the Red Sox beat reporters was talking to Don Zimmer and he asked "who'd you rather have in Centerfield Fred Lynn or Joe DiMaggio"" Zimmer thought about it for a minute and said he'd rather have Lynn. "DiMaggio's maybe a .290 hitter in today's game." Then the punchline: "of course he's about 60 now."
Yes, they are rare as we haven't had one since but let's remember Abe's performance in big games (when he actually suited up) throw in he got into some trouble off the field.
Mangold, but Abraham was always hated on unfairly by Jets fans. And Lord knows we could use a pass rusher of his caliber again.
This question kinda pisses me off. Why would anyone that knows Abraham's history choose him over a HOF center? Abraham was a premium pass rusher that sat out when Jets needed him most because his #1 priority was avoiding injury to maximize free agency money. Out of all the moves to regret, why wish for a player who quit on Jets already? Also, didn't last year show the importance of Mangold? Without Mangold the Jets were not even competitive & I know I wasn't the only one watching them getting their doors doors blown off on TV. Revis is the best player but Mangold is the most important player on this team. Mangold has an adequate to below average LG making peanuts & RG way past his prime and ready to retire once this season ends. Yet for some reason the middle of the OL doesn't get blown up consistently ... why is that?? Mangold does more than just block his man. I've seen him time exactly when to leave the original player he's blocking and seal off an additional defender. With Mangold these kind of plays aren't flukes. This is the kind of stuff that allows Jet RB to get past the DL even though they can't make anybody miss. Jets are very lucky to have Mangold. If you wanna replace him with some average player then be prepared to upgrade both RG & LG positions. Will Abraham improve the D enough to compensate for the dropoff offensively? I'm not seeing it.
