On Defense, our DL dictates everything. Obviously, we have three of the most talented big guys in the league, up front. In many of the threads about other areas of the Defense, a lot of what people say often boils down to the DL. For example, in the Babin thread, there are a lot of comments about how he'll be situational and how he'll reap the benefits of playing behind/alongside the monster d-line. All fair points. My question is: What happens if one of the Sons goes down? We have DB depth, and we have some LB depth; if there's an injury to one of those positions, maybe the dropoff isn't huge. Furthermore, those units aren't the most crucial to the Defense, not as much as the DL is. We've seen Sheldon get goalline carries, and will that continue? I'll be holding my breath that an opposing defender doesn't eventually cheapshot him. We've seen Kris Jenkins and his injury plague. Heck, even Geno Atkins - one of the best D-linemen in the game - suffered a devastating season-ending injury last season. The point being, that, it happens. God forbid one of them gets injured. Because the DL is so crucial, the strength of the Defense, and other positions depend on the DL, does Rex plug-&-play, next guy up, etc? Or would there need to be a schematic change with the entire Front 7?
Wilkerson and Richardson are obviously the important ones. We have Ellis behind snacks and Rex seems to have a knack for finding DT/NT's off the scrap pile.
Says who? Wilk is the only guy that needs to get paid soon. Sheldon is under contract for another 3 years and even if he holds out (which I expect) he wont be due that much of a raise. We will have somewhere around 50 mil dollars in cap room next offseason. That's plenty to get these guys under contract and fix other areas. Until we have a franchise QB that eats up 15 mil a year we should have no problems in keeping other key players around.
I wonder why no one ever discusses the potential for injuries. We're not jinxing the players by talking about it. I'm just wondering if a catastrophic injury to one of the D-linemen is something the team can overcome with depth or if there would have to be a major change in the scheme/formations/etc.
We have excellent depth at DL. Douzable and Ellis would start on most teams, and i expect we will keep one of the young guys on the 53 or practice squad. Last year Coples was also interchangeable with the Dline. But dropping down to 270, not so sure he could play on the base as a DE anymore. On Nickel i think he is still capable of playing any of the DL positions.
It sucks to even think about it. No fan wants to think of the scenario where your best player goes down. We have a very deep defensive line however. If Snacks were to go down, we would have Ellis come in. There's no contingency plan for Wilkerson or Sheldon going down IMO. We are fucked.
I'm curious about Coples' versatility. If he could somehow slide in to one of the DL spots, that'd be a big relief. And yes, Ellis and Douzable are fantastic depth guys.
Coples was drafted as a d-lineman and only slid over to OLB when Sheldon came on board. But as B2Q pointed out Coples has dropped weight to play his new position which would be a detriment to his run support if he were to move back inside. It would take me about a week to gain 30 pounds, not sure how long Coples would take.
Good points. If not for the report that Coples is down to the 270-275 pound range now, I would have guessed that he certainly could. After dropping about 15 pounds, it seems more questionable. And both of those guys fared very well when they were on the field. This is an area of outstanding talent for starters and backups and I don't think an injury to just one of those guys would be devastating - a blow and bit of a setback, yes, but this would still be a very good line with Kenrick Ellis or Leger Douzable starting.
The Jets have real depth on the DL. If they lost two of the big three they'd have a problem, but that's true of any NFL team. Most teams lose one good DL and they are in scrambling mode. The Jets have a give so to speak.
Why do you think Sheldon is going to hold out? I haven't seen anything to suggest that he has a Revis-like mentality. Him saying that Wilkerson deserves an extension is a different situation, because he was at the end of his rookie contract and had the 5th year option picked up. That's completely different from a 2nd or 3rd year player demanding a raise. In the new CBA, that just doesn't work. He would face $30,000/day fines and ultimately he would get $0 extra money and poison his relationship with the front office. Rookie contracts are on a fixed scale now, and nobody on a post-new-CBA rookie contract has gotten a raise from holding out.
Kinda just a gut feeling. Early success usually leads to a big head. Not to mention his comments about Wilk's deal. He strikes me as guy that if he has continued success will eventually make a fuss about his deal. Most likely not Revis level type bitching but I wouldnt be shocked if he starts a fuss eventually. Hope Im wrong. It would be refreshing to see him follow in Wilk's footsteps both on and off the field.
yup, the jets are set up about as well as they can be in terms of depth on their D-line. Ellis and Douzable, and to a lesser extent Coples and maybe even Babin could theoretically step up in their absence. Its not ideal obviously, but I'd trust that assortment to pick up the slack more than I would most anybodies. how long this will last is another matter. Douzable and Ellis are free agents after this year, do they slip out of green and white for greener pastures? I'm sure if given the chance to start and make more they'll take it. but for now we're about as good as we'll be.
