For the guys talking about a high number of cuts in the back 9: did you guys watch our special teams play the last couple of years? I'm guessing we cut 2 guys tops out of the people we drafted. Boyd is probably the only guy taken in the back 9 who isn't being eyed for special teams. A few guys to the practice squad? That's par for the course for any NFL team.
They signed Patterson who has actually been good when on the field. He had a better year than Cromartie the time that he played. Kyle Wilson is in a contract year and Darren Walls has actual NFL time under his belt now. SOMEONE will have to step up and earn the spot, its really wide open here.
If that's what we did, then it's an interesting approach. I was always a fan of drafting as many starting quality players as possible with the secondary thought that they can at the very least provide depth, help in ST and/or our practice squad. I never thought a team would go into the draft with ST as the primary focus.
They had 9 picks from the 104 out. Fleshing out the special teams was not a bad plan at all. One of the biggest concerns on the Jets the last two seasons was how weak the bottom half of the roster had become. This is one of the reasons I think the notion that there will be a lot of cuts in the draftees is off-base. The Jets don't have a lot of talent on the roster below spot 35 or so as it is. The other thing is that when you draft faster players who like contact late in the draft you often wind up with a real surprise on your hands somewhere in the bunch. Terrell Davis was drafted in the 5th round to be a gunner for the Broncos.
I didn't say Cb was not addressed. I said it has not been resolved. I frequently hear the notion that camp and pre-season will resolve these sorts of questions through a competition. But sometimes competition merely leaves you with an underwhelming player who had the good fortune of competitors who were even worse. Take LG last off season. The Jets decided they were not ready to turn away from Ducasse, having invested a second round pick in him. This no doubt was a factor in letting Slauson go in FA (in hindsight one of the worst moves Idzik has made since he came to NY). So the Jets go on to draft Winters in the third round. I recall a fair degree of optimism about Ducasse winning the competition, but what did that really show? Then he lost his starting job by committing too many penalties, and playing poorly. So Winters gets to start, but really by default. He ended up being last season's worst starter. Yes, there was a competition. But a competition between two generally bad players. One won it, but big deal.
Difference to me is we have competition between 4 guys that we already know can play (3, I'm not counting Wilson as an actual option because he should be covering the slot exclusively). Walls played decently, Milliner turned it on at the end of the season and Patterson when healthy is capable of starting. I think the odds are good that you find yourself starters. They may not be studs, but serviceable.
no, that wouldn't be doing what the chargers did because the motivations were different. The Chargers were going QB with that pick. If Manning didn't demand a trade they would have kept him, but they knew they could trade him and still get another QB they wanted equally. The Jets weren't in the market for a QB, but likely wanted Pryor. getting Manziel and trading him doesn't get them the player they want. beyond that, the fact that he slipped so far inherently reveals there was no big trade coming for Manziel. There is a huge difference between the demand for a player picked at 2 and a player picked at 22. the fantasies people come up with, and attempt to pass off as reasonable options in reality, are just amazing.
They didn't lose games last year because the special teams. They lost because the offense was pathetic (yet again) loading up on 6th and 7th rounders likely isn't going to solve that, but moving around to get another impact offensive player in the 2nd and 3rd round might.
I think this draft, however you grade it, will give us all a lot to think about till September. It seems to me that Idzik is telling us that by the Jet's grading system someone like Saunders and McDougal are more highly valued at that round, at that time, than any other player available ???? He did try to get Lee, but nobody went for it; to sweeten a deal he could have thrown a 2015 player etc. Didn't do it. So we are really banking on this value system, which might be a work a of genius or a complete bust. Since I was not sure about a lot of these players, I checked them on film and guess what.....all of them look good. Lots of players look good, so who knows. IMO if Idzik had his druthers, he would not be able to distinguish a round 2-3 from a round 6 because the talent playing field, in the big scheme of things, is equal and no hyped player is really worth it. Think about it, the reason why he preaches the draft is to round up some talent that other teams overlook. He might be right.
It's also possible we strike gold with 2 or 3 of them. Calling Idzik dumb? Really? Why aren't you working as an NFL GM, if Idzik's obviously just dumb and you know what's better for the team? But 2 WRs in the 4th in a deep draft for WRs won't help that? Getting the 2nd best TE on the board or signing Decker and Johnson won't help that? Vick won't help at all? Lots of WR competition won't help that? You're talking like anybody drafted after the 3rd automatically won't pan out and like we haven't done anything to improve the offense. The opposite is actually true. If you trade down you essentially trade 2 WRs for 1, so you essentially put all your chips on the one guy panning out, but if he doesn't you are screwed. Getting 2 4th, you have a better chance of success with one of them, IMO. True but he's a 3rd rounder that probably would have gone in the 1st if not for injuries.
I posted elsewhere that this turning out to be a great pick could be one of the key pieces to the coming season being successful. So I hope it turns out that way. Just not counting on it, or expecting it. But to your point, is it that somehow the Jets are better able than everyone else to factor out injuries? Because if you think that, I tend to doubt it.
The bottom of the roster is shit, finally we can get rid of the Clyde Gates of the roster. Malcolm Smith was an un-drafted FA that made a huge impact in the SB - you draft 12 or so players in hopes you find a player that can make that impact.
My point is that we could easily have 2 very good (first round caliber) additions to the secondary with Pryor and McDougle. Our secondary was weak last year and constantly got burned on the back end and the front end. The front end got better as the year went on but they still had glaring weaknesses. I like the competition we will have at corner. It's been a while since I've seen something like that. Milliner, Walls, McDougle, Dixon, Patterson, Dowling, Rose, Wilson. I'm definitely excited. It's also kinda cool that we have a WR and CB competition at the same time. It should be fun to watch in training camp at least. This is Idzik at his best, IMO. The 2 weakest positions get addressed heavily and tons of competition is added. It's the perfect way to rebuild a unit. Some teams will just spend all of their early picks on it or sign big name FAs, but Idzik is more about bringing in a bunch of folks to earn the position. I think it promotes less greedy players as well since everybody is hungry. Where is Darren Walls, though? I'm looking at the roster and don't see him. Did they not resign him yet or something? I could have sworn that we did already.
I think the point, at least this year, is that the Jets don't consider themselves better than everybody else at factoring out injuries. That's one of the primary arguments for exercising every pick you can get your hands on.
I know I've said this before but we have a lot of solid CB's on the roster. I'm curious though how should Idzik have addressed the CB position?
Again, I don't see a single obvious starter in that list other than Milliner. Competition is all well and good, but if the end result is the winner was merely less bad than the others, you don't find a quality starter that way. I am certainly not excited about the cb position. If it works out, hey that's great. But right now it's Milliner and a bunch of near nobodies.
Big Blocker wanted us to buy a player likely to decline over the next few years at the highest price possible. That's the Jet's MO from 2007 onwards and I'm guessing he's uncomfortable with the Jets just letting a bunch of cheap talent fight for the slot.
