We are rebuilding. When a team rebuilds they don't splurge just for the hell of it. They develop young talent. We have a bunch of young CB's on the roster, how are we gonna know if any of them are good if we don't play them? In 2011 Seattle signed a former UDFA in Brandon Browner and teamed him up with a 5th round pick in Richard Sherman. They became one of the best cb tandems in football. So who's to say that we don't have a diamond in the rough sitting on the roster right now? When teams rebuild they give unknowns an opportunity to play and compete for spots. You say why not sign another receiver what if Hill steps up? What if a guy like Salas steps up? What if Sudfeld takes a step up? How else are we gonna know what we have in certain guys unless we give them an opportunity? That is what rebuilding is all about. I'm excited to see the young guys get an opportunity. This is the very same process that allowed us to see what we have in one of the young safety's and Antonio Allen emerged.
If he didn't make a counter offer than shame on him. If he made it too late again shame on him. It was a lose/lose situation which didn't have to be.
Going after DRC tells me the Jets think they need a corner not signing Cro tells me they think he is done. They either draft a corner or count on the pass rush and Rex to help the young corners.
I too was frustrated out of the gate in free agency that we didn't try to fill as many holes as possible, but I am surprisingly coming around to Idzik's approach. Teams like Denver, New England and New Orleans are a couple of pieces away from a Super Bowl, so they went in and spent big to fill what they feel are the final pieces to their puzzle. Teams like Cleveland, Oakland and Tampa have attempted to do what many here are wishing Idzik would do: rebuild a mediocre to below average team through aggressive free agency moves. But tell me how successful those teams have been in recent years? There is a good article roaming the internet now about how Denver was able to pull off all their signings (Ware, Sanders,Talib, etc). One of the main reasons is that they have something like 30 plus players in their rookie deals still. The foundation is through getting as much of your own selections on the roster as possible and then, when you are close, overspending in free agency selectively (and you always over spend in free agency). Right tackle is great example: Idzik valued the position at a certain amount, he had a backup plan in the right tackle from Seattle, when Howard demanded more, he drew a line in the sand and signed a guy that all pundits are saying is of equal ability to Howard, and saved about 2 million a year. And by the way, whose to say that Idzik hasn't done the math on the free agency crop scheduled to hit the market next March and feels that group is much better to find core long term players and over spend with? As frustrating as it is, I will wait to see what happens in the draft, the summer roster cuts and pick ups, rookie free agent signings, etc and will hold judgement till I see our roster for game 1...
Everybody claims Woody like the headlines. If this is true? Who to say that idzik will not be the one to get fired next season? If he keeps doing what he doing. Plus what funny to me I keep seeing people take up Idzik and in the same breath say he may not know how to close a deal. Isn't that one of the big things a GM need to know how to do? Plus who to say he not going to take this approach with our own players
Look, I get that some, but not all, of the FO Homers here are on board with 2014 being an off year. In fact the lack of positive moves leaves the objective observer no other choice as well. But I don't recall anyone last off season saying they expected 2014 to be a year primarily about seeing if Hill, Salas, Sudfield, Allen and I assume you would also include Smith will succeed after having been given the opportunity to show their stuff. That and hope that the FO find a Richard Sherman in the fifth round, I suppose. Not only do I not recall that, I don't think anyone really predicted it would take three seasons for Idzik to field a competitive team. I don't think it should have been necessary, either. In short, I don't see much in the way of forward progress. I suppose if the Jets can avoid using their top pick at Cb and get a promising wideout, they might be able to field a group of receivers competitive enough that if SMith falls on his face, his supporters won't have the lack of talent excuse. But that's about as much as can be reasonably expected the way 2014 is shaping up. Oh yeah, maybe Smith will improve enough. That would be great, but I don't count on that.
And teams like Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Miami, Pittsburgh and the JETS are a couple of pieces away from the playoffs and there is money to be made in the playoffs. Those other teams are adding pieces to try to get there. Maybe we will too.
Agreed. I've read most of the posts this morning in this thread and the FA tracker thread and you can't make up some of these baloney defenses. Bottom line is the improvement of the Jets roster. Guys like Verner and Tillman were signed for $6.5mil and $3.5mil respectively. Out of those top 10 CB's listed, these two were the best bargain deals no doubt about it. Tillman probably wasn't leaving the Bears but Verner was definitely in play. He would've been an instant upgrade to our secondary. As would've TJ Ward for $5.5mil. Some on here can play the No party all day. As in No free agent was really that good anyway. Also the lame argument that most free agents don't pan out anyway. If that's the case then why even have FA and the draft if most guys don't pan out? What a weak counter. The Jets haven't improved their roster that much, their secondary holes are glaring for sure and WR is still weak. If they don't want to spend the money that's fine. But then don't expect a good product on the field next year and a team in contention. One last thing, regardless if you're building for this year or for future years you still need good talent. Signing medicore, lesser players who are not as coveted to cheaper contracts doesn't imply building for the future. It only signifies a mediocre roster for a longer period of time. And there's no way in hell you fill all of these holes in one draft. Even the great GM's couldn't pull that off. And we're talking about Idzik here so we have no idea what our draft will look like. So they must be planning on having some really poor starters next year is what this tells me.
Don, at times it is Rex, are you telling me he is absolved from any blame? Last time, history proved only one man walked on water. Rex has his faults, and they put his defense in jeopardy, or did you forget EJ Manuel carving up our secondary because Rex was too arrogant to give Cromartie help over the top, he was not 100% and he still had him playing one on one. Rex thought he could rattle the rookie QB with his blitzing and it came back to bite him. I think the defense will be better but it's not going to be because of the secondary, I think the improvement Idzik is looking for is coming from the dline and the LB position. If he can build a defense for Rex that puts pressure from the inside out, the secondary does not have to be great, it can get by with being good. Like the Giants did when they won the SB, or even last year when Seattles pass rush was too much for Peyton to deal with. JMO
Who's to say we still can't be competitive? Idzik has a plan but he's not gonna deviate from that plan just because we overachieved last year. This is not gonna be an overnight thing. If Geno gives us average QB play our offense is automatically better and we'd be in the hunt for a playoff spot. I don't know what people expected 2014 to be. People only assumed because we had capspace that we'd splurge. That has been proven to not be the case. We're gonna continue to build through the draft and develop the young guys on the roster. Before criticizing at least see how things play out.
Last year the team had no cap money to spend on free agents. This year we don't know if the Jets have just been cheap or if prime free agents just didn't want to play for the Jets. But remember this, the Jets can't be cheap for long, if indeed they are trying to be cheap, the CBA doesn't allow it. A team has to carry an average of 89% of the cap spent over any 4 year span. The Jets have a lot of young players who are coming due for big paydays, especially on the defensive line side of the ball. Letting cap money roll over makes sense to keep those guys signed, it will allow the Jets room to make long term deals that pay their young players well and be cap friendly at the same time rather than having to backload contracts and always being in cap hell. I'm not sold on Idzik, but I'm not going to judge a GM midway through his second season as a GM and first season with any cap money and his own front office and scouting team in place. Remember, the Seahawks built from within and through the draft...it's not a one or even two year process to do that.
It's at least a 4-5 year process to build fully from within. I'm good with that as long as they stay with the plan and make smart personnel decisions.
Time will tell. You can still be rebuilding and field a competitive team by filling holes. It's hard knowing we have a large amount of money and did zero in getting at least a two year player to fill the void at CB. We now find ourselves looking at Cro. I'm sure he won't be holding us up for more money(cough).
Excellent points. The successful teams in the modern NFL use the draft AND free agency to fill holes and build. It has to be done in combination and money has to be spent, especially when you have cap room. As someone else pointed out, the core of the team, the offensive line, is aging. Soon that will be a bunch of holes that need to be filled, and we will be back to square one. I know that's usual for the Jets, but I thought Idzik and Rex and company were going to "change the culture". Doesn't look like it right now.
Idk if idzik noticed.. But we were only a few key pieces from being a strong unit.. At least to be a force in the afc east . I dont like the word rebuild being used with this team because i never felt a rebuild was necessary. Dump a few bad contracts cool... Think we shoulda kept Laron Landry n Keller but whatever. Revis trade i could deal with. Getting rid of him was enough to bypass a rebuild right there with all the money we saved. Geno needed weapons point blank we know the d can hold its own. Seemed like we were just a few playmakers on offense away from being really dominant in this division. U win ur division ur in the playoffs. Jets get in the playoffs and special things happen. Now we made more holes in our team. Momma said if it aint broke dont fix it.
Honestly I'd love if we got Byrd, Verner, Nicks AND Decker, MJD, and Scott Chandler. But the reality is that this will give an opportunity to a guy like Dowling, Berry gets a shot, maybe Wilson takes a huge leap. Improvements are gonna have to happen from within with our own guys. People wanted Asamoah( sp) but I bet William Campbell steps up and becomes serviceable. This is what rebuilding looks like. It's mainly putting unproven guys in spots and seeing what they can do. We can afford to do that because we don't have any big expectations. Last year folks weren't sold on Powell and wanted to bring in a known commodity. Last year Powell proved he belonged, Antonio Allen proved he belonged, the only failure was Vlad and he was replaced with Winters. This year will be the same, we got rid of Colon and either Aboushi or Campbell or a rookie will have one of the guard spots. Either Wilson, Berry, Dowling, Lankster etc will be batting for the other 2 CB spots. Maybe this year Josh Bush beats out Landry for the SS spot. We'll probably draft a WR in round 1, the rookie plus Nelson and Hill and Salas, Gates etc will battle for spots. Idzik will bring in cheap vets as stop gaps when needed. This is what rebuilding looks like. It may be ugly. But it's necessary. I'm excited to see who steps up this year and seeing how the draft plays out.
Report: Jets privately apologize for negotiating tactics http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...-privately-apologize-for-negotiating-tactics/ When the Chiefs chose to complain about the failure of agent Steve Weinberg to follow through on a verbal deal for receiver Emmanuel Sanders, several league insiders — both from the team side and the agent side — pointed out that NFL teams routinely engage in shady business dealings, too. The Jets apparently could be on that list, in one specific way. Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reports that the Jets have apologized to at least one agent after the team misled the agent regarding the team’s interest in a player during the three-day exclusive negotiating window. Multiple agents told Mehta the Jets engaged in “questionable practices” by leading them to believe the team’s interest was at a level that the eventual offers apparently didn’t match. That specific accusation comes in an article that focuses primarily on the frustrations arising within the organization regarding the slow pace of G.M. John Idzik in free-agency negotiations. An unnamed member of the organization said that Idzik “operates on his own time and schedule,” and that the situation is “unbelievable.” As to the latest player the Jets failed to sign, Mehta reports that the Jets made a “desperate 11th-hour offer” for cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, but that it was too late to keep him away from the Giants. That said, the Jets closed the deal with receiver Eric Decker during his first and only free-agency visit. So Idzik hasn’t been slow on every possible candidate. Looking at the situation more broadly, the leaks suggest a level of dysfunction that either didn’t previously exist or that had been successfully concealed under Idzik’s leadership. That could make for another mess of a season, if the Jets get off to a slow start in 2014.
