Here's a list of all the players. http://imgur.com/a/DEkM8 I know we shouldn't take this stuff too seriously because I definitely have some issues with the scoring, but it at least gives you an idea of talent. One major problem is the weighting of the categories. Chris Ivory is actually given a pretty decent running grade, but his passing grade drops him a lot. Ok.... But that's not his role in the offense. So looking at individual categories is probably a better bet in evaluating talent. Some observations I have: Richardson is a beast, and Wilkerson would be even better but I'm pretty sure that wrist injury held him back towards the end of the season. Still two top 10 DEs are never a bad thing. But JJ watt, holy shit. Coples isn't rated too highly but a lot of that can be contributed to his injury and position change. Definitely improved as the games went on. Rodgers-Cromartie was ranked 5th so it'd be pretty awesome if we can get him. Milliner was 66th, which actually shows how good he was the last few games considering how terrible he was before. Let's hope he can be top 30 next year then even higher the next year, I think that's realistic. Mangold was rated very average but bad guards definitely held him back. Hopefully we can improve the position so he can play better. Snacks got some love, top 5 DT and the highest run grade by a large margin. I know pff was down on bohannon who was ranked the worst. Some competition could help I guess, he didn't seem too awful to me. I've mentioned the problem I have with Ivory's grade, but his running grade is just about average. Considering his slow start that's not too surprising, he didn't start really producing until week 7. Powell is listed at 48, which seems right to me. A good piece in a running back by committee setup. I was a little disappointed to see Demario Davis at 49, which is I guess just in the middle of the second inside linebackers. I was hoping he'd be able to take a leap and be a number 1 but David Harris was 20th, so hopefully Demario improved and the roles can be switched. Not much to say about kick returners, Cribbs was 19th. Not too bad. Clyde gates was 200th and Kyle Wilson was 220th (behind the likes of leger douzable, and nick bellore) so that was a big improvement. Folk's grade was dropped because of his kickoffs being not amazing, but he's ranked the highest field goal kicker. This is an example where categories tell a better story than total grade. Guards is a tough category because slauson is top 10 and the only other listed guard on our roster is winters at 77. Colon was a pretty good pass blocker though, might be worth trying him again, but definitely definitely an area of need. Unless that Campbell guy from michigan is the next Brandon Moore and makes a snacks-like emergence. OTs was also a little disappointing because Ferguson definitely took a step back. He's ranked one spot ahead of breno though, who's 6 spots ahead of howard. And we got him for cheaper so that's a good signing. Brenos categories are totally average though, none are terrible and none are great. As opposed to brick who got a good pass rating but a bad run rating. Punter, nothing special, lower tier guy. Might be worth taking some guy late in the draft or get an udfa if they don't want to. Quarterback is definitely rough, geno's post bye week stretch was brutal. I really hope he improves. Safeties is the biggest flawed rating here, IMO. Polamalu, will hill, McCourty, all better than earl Thomas? I don't know about that. As far as our guys go, we definitely need to work on this position also. Ed reed was actually still rated top 32 (doesn't mean much but that's actually better than I thought) while allen and Landry both had good run grades but poor coverage grades. I was surprised to see kellen Winslow being a top 15 tight end, but he most likely won't be back. Good signing by Idzik last year though. Cumberland was weak as a blocker but pretty decent in the passing game which confirms that he shouldn't be a number one but could be a good role player. I love how cheap his contract is too. Especially considering the contract Pettigrew got. And finally wide receiver was a pleasant surprise. Decker is 11th, higher than Larry Fitzgerald, aj green, and josh Gordon. That just seems wrong to me though, but I'm not complaining. Kerley got some recognition being ranked 44th, which means he's an above average second wide receiver. When geno's throwing the ball that's pretty impressive. I remember people hearing kerley would be at best a 3rd or 4th receiver on other teams but that's just untrue. David Nelson was 57th which would put him as a great 3rd receiver. So we actually have 3 receivers in their top 64 receivers. Not too bad. In case anyone was wondering James jones is 55th and sanders is 60th. So I know I wrote a lot about a grading system that's kinda flawed, but it's the offseason and free agency is slow so I'm just happy to spend time on football related stuff. Overall there were some bright spots on our roster. A good draft at safety, tight end, and guard would put us in a pretty good place, especially when we plug in a few more FAs in the weaker positions.
Pace graded out pretty good at 28th overall, I hope that we bring him back on another 1 year deal. I don't see any other team bringing him in on a multi-year deal so it's either retire or take the vet min offer the jets give him. With so many holes to fill and so few draft picks (for starters that have the potential to be above average players) I think it makes sense to bring him back as a stop gap, hold the fort guy till we're in position to draft his replacement. We need to replace RG, #2 WR, #2 QB, FS, #1 CB, OLB, and eventually (next season) ILB. And this assumes that Geno and Decker can be the #1 guy at their position all season. I don't think Milliner is ready for #1 CB duty yet. I rewatched the last Miami game, and he played really well and was tested a lot, but I don't know if he can do it on a consistent basis for all 16 games yet.
I wouldn't hate bringing pace back, I just hope they realize his prediction was mostly thanks to the d-line and they don't overpay for production. I think Idzik is smart enough though. And I'm a little worried about milliner still, but if we can get drc I think that'll take a lot of pressure off of him.
Demario Davis, the 4th worst ILB in coverage? I didn't expect it to be that bad, given that he moves well for the position.
I 100% agree with everything u said. I'm sure Idzik knows that the 11 sacks Pace rang up last season was more the result of the guys playing next to him, and not just him beating blockers to the qb. If he caused 11 sacks due to his own athletic ability he'd have been signed already by some team, if not us. I'm pretty sure that Idzik would only offer Pace a 1 year vet minimum contract. I can't see any other team giving him a better deal, so it's either retire or take the Jets deal. A healthy Barnes could replicate most of Pace's numbers from last season so they're probably hoping to bring back one or the other. I'd rather Pace cause I feel he's a better all-around olb than Barnes. As far as DRC, I think he's gonna want too much money and I don't think we'll sign him. I hope I'm wrong, but Idzik has only dished out 1 big money contact so far and that was on offense. I think once things calm down in F.A. we'll resign Antonio Cromartie back to the team. It doesn't matter if it's close to training camp, cause he knows the d already. He's another guy that i don't see many teams having any interest in due to his age and hip injury. I think DRC is a much better cb right now if u had to judge it. So we'd be better off in the short run with DRC, but considering contacts our team would be better off with our cro coming back on a 1 year deal with performance incentives for bonuses. This way we're free to move on in 2015 with no dead money on the cap, and go out and draft our guy (who at that point may only need to be a #2 cb if Dee steadily improves). I think this is Idzik's plan for the entire team is sign hold the fort free agents to team friendly deals, and eventually draft their replacement. God willing Will Campbell and Odah are ready to step it up and compete for starting rg and rt positions. Even a training camp battle for the starting job would make them look like very decent draft picks.
I agree about Pace; he definitely would have been signed by now if he got 7 or 8 of those sacks by beating linemen on his own (we probably wouldn't have even let him hit free agency.) He had lots of situations where the d-line gave him a relatively easy shot at the QB. He's never gotten double-digit sacks before, so for that to suddenly happen at age 33, when the last 3 years he had 3, 4, and 5 sacks- and like you said, the fact that he mostly just benefitted from the d-line is why he isn't getting big much interest. He's worth more than a minimum contract, maybe $1m or $1.5m, but I think by next year we should have drafted a replacement. Other teams would definitely let him compete for a roster spot, he did get 10 sacks after all, but we can get him to commit to a near-min offer and a high chance of actually being a starter. As for DRC, he does want too much money, but if there isn't a team out there that is interested at $10m or $9m, he has to lower his price or else retire or sit out a year (which is basically retiring, because he will have to prove himself on a cheap contract if he sat out a year.) I'd be surprised if the Giants signed him, most likely he will agree to something with the Jets on Sunday or Monday, but it's also possible that maybe the Raiders or someone would come in and not care if they overpay, and in that case we will lose him. I pretty much agree about Cromartie. He was downright bad last year (even though he made the Pro Bowl based off of his reputation), but there's some chance it was because of his hip and not because of a permanent decline. I don't think other teams will want him, since he was a bottom-3 or so corner last year and the belief about him is that he is all athleticism, and if that's gone then he has nothing. His argument is "no, I still have it, I was just playing through an injury." So the solution would be to give him a 1 year vet minimum deal and by the time you have to make your final cuts, you should know whether he's going to be able to play at a decent level or not. If we can get DRC we don't really need him; it could be better to just take a late round CB with more upside and use the roster spot on him. Hopefully, like you said, our offensive line prospects will show some potential. Our O-line is one of the older lines in the league, and you have to be prepared with younger guys. I'll be pleased if we take another o-lineman in the middle rounds; always good to have depth there.
I'm actually not surprised about Winslow. My Jet fan friends hate him and my Giant fan friends tell me he's terrible, but he fights for the ball in coverage and seemed to make some big plays for us last year. I wouldn't mind having him on the team again.
