I disagree and think you are missing the point. In the salary cap age, and with 45 man rosters, nobody can have STUDs (as you put it) and depth at every position. Most NFL teams do not have 2-3 CBs that are STUDS . You and other Jets fans have been spoiled over the years with the CBs the Jets have had. The Jets made a conscious decision to not overspend at the CB position this year. There are positions on the field that they consider more important and where young players they have now are going to need to be paid over the next few years. The Jets did not want to eat up $10 million in cap space with a CB. They would rather spend that money elsewhere and are saving cap space to pay players who will command big pay days soon (such as Wilkerson). So while you are right that teams don't have two stud centers, there are also teams that don't have a center at all. My point still holds. If the Jets suffered the same two injuries to, say, Decker and Kerley, they would be in trouble - actually worse trouble because CB is deeper than WR. Or if Johnson and Powell were hurt, they would be up a creek at RB. Or if Colon and Winters were hurt, people would be screaming about how Idzik blew it by not getting a stud guard. Your point about signing two free agent CBs is absurd. DRC and Davis???? Spend $16 million+ on two CBs, plus Milliner? Never gonna happen and that would be stupid beyond belief. Under your theory, you would need to spend twice the salary cap to have STUDS and depth at every position. It's just not possible. Maybe you are in love with CBs, but I understand the change in philosophy in not overpaying for that position any more after years of sinking a sixth of the cap in two CBs for the past 4 seasons or so. Spend money on QBs, LTs, DEs and OLBs and a few other players here and there. Bottom line - there is no way in the world Idzik could have predicted or anticipated or planned for two injuries to CBs or any other position. And I stand by my argument that DRC or Verner, or Davis could have been signed and gone down for the season just as easily as McDougle and the Jets would be in the same spot they are now. The Jets and Idzik want "sustainable success" which means having the money and flexibility to sign your own players and compete year after year, not the big splash pay 'em what they want go for broke philosophy that we had under Tannenbaum.
Really? You think we have enough WR depth to trade for one of those guys? Who is expendable that would get one of those players? Decker? Kerley? That's what it would take. The Bengals are not trading one of those CBs for Nelson or Hill or Ford or one of the rookies. The Jets can't afford to weaken the offense to get CB depth. There are enough CBs on the roster to replace McDougle.
The answer is something in between a Tannenbaum and Idzik philosophy ie in an important position like CB, draft a good player but for goodness sake pay a little more (even a lot more) for someone better than Patterson. I see your point but you also get what you pay for.
Then give them a Mid pick + Hill for a CB! It's not just McDougle.. Milliner has a high ankle sprain and that's going to affect his play drastically.. Patterson is always hurt and sucks.. Kyle Wilson is currently our #1 CB! If that doesnt scare you in a Rex Ryan D than im not sure what would?
Who says CB is that important? The Giants won two SBs with crap at CB. The Pats won SBs with WRs playing CB. I think Jets fans have CBs on the brain after years of Revis and Cromartie. If the front seven does its job, the CBs are not as important. I'd rather have a strong front seven than a strong defensive backfield.
Why would any team want Hill? Really? A mid round pick and Hill for the CBs on your list? The Bengals will laugh in Idzik's face. If CBs are so important and depth at CB is so important, wouldn't the Bengals hoard starting caliber CBs like people on this thread are claiming the Jets should have? It seems people think every team should have 3-4 starting caliber CBs on the roster in case two are hurt, plus back ups for every other key starter on the team and still stay under the cap and field 45 men on Sunday. It is just not realistic.
This is a good point, and it's ridiculous to see how teams are overpaying for corners. If you don't have a Revis/Peterson/Sherman/Haden calibre player that are few and far between there really isn't much of a point to be shelling out the contracts that DRC, even Talib and Vontae Davis got. It makes more sense to invest in the front 7 as noted by the poster above. The only guy you can really look at that maybe the Jets should've target is Verner, but we also didn't watch the tape on him all year so we don't know what was seen in terms of his cover skills. Even Sherman was helped out immensely by his pass rush, albeit no stars on the defensive line but relentless pressure guys. The Seahawks are really the exception to the rule where an elite defense was built through the secondary and even then they are all guys that were drafted and developed, not given huge contracts to build. The Seahawks are a franchise that could slowly decline as they still have to pay Chancellor and Russell Wilson. They're going to set themselves up for cap hell when they have over $100 million invested in two secondary players and no money to go elsewhere. The cornerback market is soaring right now so you have average guys getting superstar contracts because teams were ready to overreact and pay.
I agree. Alot of corners are vastly overpaid because of the nature of the position. Nowadays you have to draft CB....but as we've seen...that's tough. Kyle Wilson has been less than a 1st round pick worthy. Dee Milliner's jury is still out.
Meh. Let's see what they have at CB right now. No need to trade a pick for a CB. If there were a #1 corner available via trade then we would be hearing about it considering how CB crazy the NFL became after the Seahawks SB win. With what the Jets have now how much worse can it be than last year? Cromartie was one of the worst CB's in football last year and we all know about Milliner's struggles. Let the front seven carry the defense and prove their mettle. They should be up to the task considering how many high draft picks were invested in them.
Oh relax. The kid was benched a third of last season and dropped one easy ball in the first preseason game. He's trying to consciously figure out every move he should be making with every step he takes right now. Once he gets the position down in a year or two he'll start to flow and bring in his share of those balls like every other good corner. Then it just becomes a question of how he stacks up with your lofty list and there's nobody in the world that can answer that question right now with any real confidence, including you. If Revis started with truly natural hands he would've trained to become a sick WR and he never would've been a Jet at all. Don't sell this kid short because he's not ready to give the ultimate punishment to opposing QB's every time they throw the ball in his direction after 2 minutes in the NFL. Smothering coverage and consistent deflections are a great start.
Teams need either elite corners -or- an elite pass rush. Both are almost impossible to acquire, so teams end up with pretty good corners and a so-so pass rush -or- so-so corners and a pretty good pass rush. Which will we be?
A team with one elite corner, an elite but not best pass rush and one other CB? The other side of the ball is the open question and it pretty much comes down to a 2nd year 2nd round QB.
You relax; you're the one making a mountain out of a mole hill fabricating opposing positions to argue against. I said the guy can't catch and you are getting all defensive as though it's some kind of personal attack. You offered up what you thought his main weakness was; I offered up mine and all of the sudden I'm selling him short? Except for his hands, I think Dee has all the physical tools that the top CBs have. His technique will continue to get better but he just does not have the natural hands like the top level guys do. This was evident in Bama, the scouting drills as the combine and so far in the NFL. My "lofty" expectations have always been that Dee would have a Carlos Rogers type career. Rogers has had a long NFL career which includes a few Pro-Bowl appearances. Like Dee Rogers had all the measurables of an elite CB but his hands kept him from being considered in that top tier. Rogers did manage 6 INTs a few years back but most of his other years he just racked up the PDs while dropping a ton of would be INTs. If Rogers converted a fraction of those PDs into game changing INTs he would be perceived a lot differently. If Dee were to somehow improve his hands, then the sky would be the limit as Rogers is really his floor.
I agree with this assessment of Dee's potential as long as injuries don't stunt his development further or cut his career short.
