Ftr I am unclear on whether there will be an actual competition at Qb THIS year, too, but putting that aside. I think the positions where there will be a totally free competition are rather limited. You've got #2 Cb, wideout opposite Decker, and what is not really a competition for being top dog at Rb (who carries the most at Rb is really a week to week assessment as it was last year). Probably who will return punts. But we pretty much know who is going to start everywhere else.
Why is that a bad thing? Isn't that the point? To get players like those that are established and you trust to be good? Then supplement them with good young talent that can hopefully join that category? The goal of the competition is to get guys you trust starting. Hopefully next year, Decker, Kerley, Hill, Saunders and Evans will be a formidable WR corps and we won't worry as much.
The goal is to put the most talented players on the field. Right now, besides Harris/Wilkerson/Richardson/Mangold/Ferguson/Decker and a few others the Jets don't know who the most talented players are. That is where preseason competition comes in. You want to put established players out there, players that have earned there spot. The players I mentioned earlier earned their spots on this team through competition. Now we're trying to fill out the rest of the roster with the most talented players, except we don't know who the most talented players are yet. They are going to compete with each other to earn starting positions. Everyone needs to compete to play.
Well actually there was competition at the QB position between Matt Flynn, Tarvaris Jackson, and Russell Wilson.
You misread my post. I did not say there was no competition in Seattle at Qb. I said the competition there did not show they had a competition everywhere else.
Yes, the competion at quarterback seems to be a reversible issue. For example, when the Vick signing was made every paper ran the story that MV and Geno would "compete with Simms and this would be a good thing". Since then, Vick has volunteered or was contracted to say "Geno is the starter". So no one wants controversy except at the WR position apparently.
Here's the starting lineup right now. QB: Geno Smith 55%. Definitely some sort of a competition because even if the staff wants Geno to win, Vick is good enough to outright win the job. RB: Ivory, though who gets most carries week by week will fluctuate. FB: Bohanon 75%. I don't think he played well enough (or that the Jets invested enough in him) for him to be a lock. WR1: Eric Decker 100% WR2: Wide open competition with Kerley, Nelson, Hill, Evans, Enunwa, Ford, Saunders, and even Gates all having legitimate shots. This year's 'camp superstar' could easily be our WR2. TE: Cumberland or Amaro. Both will play defined roles, so it's not a pure competition, but their roles overlap in some places. LT: Brick 100% LG: Winters 80% C: Mangold 100% RG: Colon 90% RT: Giacomini 90% LDE: Wilkerson 100% NT: Harrison 90% RDT: Richardson 100% ROLB: Coples 100% RILB: Davis 95% LILB: Harris 100% LOLB: Pace 95% LCB: Milliner 95% RCB: Wide open competition between Wilson, Patterson, Walls, Dowling, McDougle, Lankster, Patrick, Dixon. 6 corners make it, rest are cut. S: Pryor 75% S: Landry 60% You can't have competition everywhere on the roster for starting spots. But I don't know who the Jets top passer will be. I don't know who their top RB will be. Outside of Decker and Kerley, every other receiver on the roster could start or they could be cut or anywhere in between. The 2 places the Jets have wide open competitions between a ton of competitors are receiver and corner. Well, those are 2 positions that depth is required the most because of the different packages you can run and other teams can run. There's a chance both spots could be weak all year. However, that was also the case last year. Receiver is obviously better because Decker is here. But even after that, there are enough young players with potential that the answers could definitely be on the roster. Maybe not a consistent #2 at first, but by the end of the season, hopefully one or more of those guys steps up. Cornerback is likely better because Milliner will hopefully play closer to like he did down the stretch and Cromartie was bad last season. You can replace bad. Wilson, Patterson and even Walls have starter experience, McDougle was drafted fairly high, and so was Dowling at one point. There's reason for optimism that someone will step up.
Winning Teams that draft and take the draft seriously are drafting for depth/talented players for if/when players bolt FA and to keep everyone on point and sharp in camp with hungry rookies. The last thing you want on a team, especially a young team is complacency. Competition is never wrong. Of course the highly paid players will have a far tighter leash then others but we don't have too many of those said signed players at the moment.
That's a very comprehensive analysis. I might quibble with some of your percentages, but overall your numbers are plausible, so I will not. What I will say is the RB position is, as you say, not likely to be set for the season. Last year the number of carries between Powell and Ivory varied from week to week through the season. That likely will continue in 14, although I personally expect barring injury that Ivory will end the season with the most carries, while Johnson will have second most and most receptions at Rb. In effect, though, the if you will main competitions will be at #2 CB and at wideout opposite Decker. Qb will play out as well, but imo is at risk of not being a pure competition, but that in this discussion is a digression. More limited competition will occur at safety opposite Pryor, which I expect will be "won" by Landry, and perhaps how much the returning Barnes gets to play at OLB. Perhaps there might even be a competition at first TE off the bench, since one has to see some plausible basis for the CS to be less than enthralled by Cumberland at this point. On the other hand I don't even expect a real competition at LG, despite Winters being the worst starter last year. Who is his competition? But on the whole I agree with your post.
Most Most likely not before opening day. More likely is they let Winters start and see how he does. Despite his awful play last year he does have the advantage of having played most of a season with Mangold and Ferguson. Some perceived some improvement in Winters as the season wound down, too. But if he starts and shows no real improvement, there would likely be an opening for others.
Also the depth eroded over time because when you buy vets you are buying a limited window of capable play in the process.
I've never seen a GM add 12 new rookie players to a roster in a draft and the fan base is claiming it was "dumb".
1st and 2nd round picks usually don't face heavy competition for their jobs. This is because no team can afford to spend 1st and 2nd round picks and also import people good enough to really challenge those guys on a regular basis. Milliner will face competition this year due to the number of people involved in the hunt for the 2nd CB job but he's going to have to fail at his job to lose it. The Jets have too much wrapped up in his selection to put him on the bench for somebody marginally better this year. The percentage play in that situation is to put Milliner out there and try to accelerate his development. If he just isn't getting the job done, well then somebody from the horde will replace him at least temporarily.
This seems like the antithesis what happens in SEA, the team whose blueprint we are supposedly following.
It's not the fan base it's a small faction. This is probably an artifact of Tanny conditioning people to expect a trade up in the draft despite the obvious negative results we saw first hand.
It is very unlikely those players will be on the 53 man roster. How many will be is a factor that will make up how good a draft it was.
Of course I agree with this post, but I will be snarky enough to say it is a bit of a surprise coming from you. Well, that is not to your discredit, and I am sure Emerson would approve! You know, Ralph Waldo.
