He gets a lot of unfair criticism for sure. He also gets a lot of fair criticism, though. By week 4, Jets are out 4 of their 12 draft picks. If your going to end up cutting 33% of your draft picks, why not trade up a bit. He hasnt been nearly as bad as some here believe, but he hasnt been perfect by any stretch.
I liked his mantra in regards to going through the draft to get the team to competitive status - but if you are cutting draft picks left and right and none have a role on the team - it's hard to support
His problem is that he is a figurehead for the coach that is supposed to report to HIM. The main indictment of Tannebaum was that he drafted defensive players in the 1st round every year because that is what Rex wanted. So what does Idzik do--he drafts TWO defensive players in round 1 in 2013 and another defensive player in round 1 in 2014. The Millner choice was especially odd at #9 overall because Millner was coming off FIVE surgeries (Guess what--he's still hurt) .You wonder why the jets offense stinks so bad when every 1st round pick ends being a guy like Millner or Coples, who Rex plays out of position. Then Idzik compounds that in 2014 being taking McDougle in the 3rd round, a guy who was ranked the 256th best player in whole draft and was injured almost his entire senior season--guess what, he's injured for this entire season, too. Idzik is too close to Rex, has drafted almost entirely for defense and that is why our offense and our team for that matter stinks. With what the jets had at WR going into the year, I still can't believe that Idzik didn't take WR Cooks in round 1 who is now thriving for New Orleans. You can't draft defense in the first round EVERY year to placate Rex and then sit on $20M in cap space and expect to have any kind of offense. Not a surprise to me that we will have a 4th consecutive non-playoff non-winning season under Rex and the puppet GM and nerdy owner who for some reason think Rex is the answer.
the seattle turnaround took 4 years, we are only on year 2. what bothers me is the talk about hiring Quinn, the seattle dc, as the next jets head coach. if they make a change, the next hire should be an offensive coach. interview Darrell Beavell, Joe Lombardi, Shaw from Stanford , even the guy on the Pats who used to be in Denver. alos Kyle Shanahan and Gary Kubiak. it is a passing league, and your head coach can not ignore that side of the ball. Neither can your general manager at the draft. picking guys with a history of injuries isn't too smart either.
I'll judge idzik after i see what he does with this shit load of cap space we have rolling over into next season. Right now when you look at our flaws, the players we had visit our facility to leave with no deal, and our cap space..shit aint adding up. We definitely should be adding multiple SOLID PLAYERS from next years FA and drafting good with probably a top 12-15 draft pick. If not...to hell with him for teasing us with fake hope for the future.
jets fans: "tannebaum sucks, we need to build through the draft" "idzik sucks, we need to spend more money during FA" john schneider, who many consider the best GM in football, made some awful calls his first two years. no GM is perfect. this team definitely has more talent than last year. who honestly expected all 12 draft picks to make this team? 2 being on IR doesn't help either
On cap management and valuations, Idzik has been fine. Its troubling that so many draft picks arent panning out, but as long as they are true busts (ie they dont catch fire with other teams) maybe its better they get the hook sooner and other guys get an opportunity. Most teams are built on a few stars and alot of journeymen that have similar skill sets but maybe havent matured yet, are refining their skills, etc. Finding the journeyman that can contribute and benefit a team is basically a crap shoot. If the plan is to throw the dice as often as possible to find those journeymen than so be it.
In his last two drafts, Tannenbaum brought in: Wilkerson, K Ellis, B. Powell, Kerley, Q. Coples, D Davis, Antonio Allen. In his first two drafts, Idzik brought in Millner (only can be viewed as dissapointment), Richardson (good), Geno (yikes), Winters (turnstyle), Bohanon (pretty good for late round), Pryor (have you seen any flashes?), Amaro (looking good), McDougal (IR) and then a bunch of crap receivers who have either been cut, fumbled punts, beat their girlfriend or put on IR. I think our talent intake is going the wrong direction with Idzik.
I agree with a lot of you said but want to respond to one part. I think 2014 was always a hope for the best and see what happens season. 2015 was the real target to be competing. If he tries to make a big splash in 2015 and we fall flat on our faces than he is on the hotseat. Hes getting a lot of criticism this year which I dont think he deserves yet. Next year will be the real test.
Thats an unfair comparison because you're comparing draft classes that had time to develop and 1 draft class with less than a season. Milliner's disappointment is from injuries. People had high hopes for him before that. McDougal same thing. We have no idea how this years draft class will develop and even last years. Wilkerson was hardly an impact player as a rookie. He showed that he had potential but he was not a great De as a rookie. Ellis was injured his rookie year and accomplished nothing. Powell same thing. Kerley was decent as a rookie. Not a huge impact player but surprised. Coples was not an impact rookie. Davis was a depth ILB as a rookie and many here complained about him. Allen never saw the field as a rookie. So why talk about how they play now instead of waht they did early on since that is how we are judging Idzik?
You ruin a really good argument with the bold. I often hear people make similar about Revis's rookie year in defense of Milliner: "Well Revis wasn't Revis his rookie year". Wilkerson started 16 games without being a liability; that in itself is making a tremendous impact as a rookie. No one is screaming for the rookies and second year players to set the world on fire. I think most would like to see them contribute in some way whether is be in a part time role or STs. Not being able to at least do that when the players in front of you are not very good, constantly being injured and/or not making the roster at all should be permitted as as reasonable cause for concern.
it's extremely easy to say a CB is a liability because you constantly watch him play. if wilkerson plays poorly you probably never hear it
Great post, imo. And one of the most frustrating things about being a Jets fan. You've seen so many successful teams win the superbowl who did it through the draft and long term development of talent like Green Bay, Seattle, New England, etc. I have hated so much this quick turnaround mindset, getting high profile mostly washed up free agents or trades (Santonio, Favre, Plexico, even Thomas Jones even though he was actually quite awesome, and so was Favre until he got hurt). I wish we'd slow down and build a great team out of the draft. When has this gun-for-hire-win-now approach ever worked? I am not willing yet to throw Idzik or Rex under the bus, though Rex leaves a lot to be desired if you look at the whole tenure as head coach, and it has been getting progressively worse.
I never said any CB was a liability; not exactly sure what you are talking about there. With regards to Wilkerson, I watched him very closely his rookie year. I did so because I had no idea who he was when we drafted him as I never saw him play in college. I was trying to determine if it was another bad pick from Tanny a la Wilson the year before. While he did not come out the gate dominating like Richardson but at no point was he ever a liability out there. Near the end of his rookie season it was pretty obvious Tanny did good.
