I know a lot of you hate Idzik and will continue to do so no matter what, but I for one really like most of his moves and decision making. In particular, I think with lots of their moves, the two of them were in very similar situations, but Idzik has clearly done a much better job. Some examples: 1) Both Tanenbaum after Favre and Idzik after Sanchez were desperate for a new QB. Both of those years, there were some potential 1st round type QBs available, but in each case, they had a lot of question marks, and were far from a sure thing. Sanchez had questions about his ability after playing in a very strong college program that tended to produce weak NFL Qbs, and Geno came from a non-pro offense with talented WRs, which might have inflated his value. Both of them ended up drafting these uncertain prospects, but how? Tanenbaum not only decided to use his first round pick on Sanchez but traded away other picks to move up to the 5th overall spot, to make sure we got him. This pretty much ruined that entire draft, and was a HUGE cost to us when Sanchez did not work out as a franchise QB. Idzik, on the other hand, passed on Geno AND EJ Manuel, not once, but twice in the first round, and then only drafted him when he was still available in the 2nd. This was a great value pick for us, regardless of how Geno's career turns out. By keeping all our picks and using 1st rounders on other more talented players, we actually could wind up with a pretty good draft, already having gotten DROY out of it, and other contributors like Bohannon and Aboushi. So even if Geno doesn't work out, the cost to us is nowhere near as high as with Sanchez. 2) Tanenbaum was desperate for a good WR in 2010. He found Santonio Holmes, a guy with talent but also some character issues that the Steelers wanted to get rid of for a low pick. Idzik was in a similar situation this year, and found Percy Harvin, a guy with character and injury issues, and also got him for a low pick. Similar situations, but again, this is why Idzik is so much better than Tanny. First of all, Harvin has a much higher ceiling than Holmes. They are about the same as pure WRs, speedy guys that can get open, but then Harvin also brings in his running ability, which is something Holmes never did, and is a game-breaker on special teams. But much more importantly, Tanenbaum brought Holmes in at a really bad time in terms of a contract. Holmes was on his last year, so if he did good for us in 2010, which he did, he had all the cards, and could force us to give him a bad contract or go elsewhere. That's exactly what happened, we give him a bad contract, and he sucks every year since then, either injuries, character issues, or just plain sucking. With Harvin, on the other hand, Idzik didn't panic, didn't go all in when Seattle most likely wanted more in return, just to try to win a couple more games, but instead got an unbelievably team friendly deal. We hold all the cards pretty much now, if Harvin sucks, we let him go anytime we feel like it, and if he s good we can keep him for a few years. Now think about all the other good deals Idzik has already pulled off, in barely over a year on the job. Getting Ivory, who s one of the best running backs in the league for a 4th rounder, and paying him 2 million a year for 3 years. Getting Decker, who's looking really good so far, for only 7 mil a year. It saddens me a little that so many fans aren't appreciating some of this stuff just because they only judge people based on win-loss record or whether somebody gets injured or not. I really believe that if Idzik gets enough time, he can build a heck of a team for us.
You do make me feel more at ease, but still there is no defending the zero trades this past draft turning into cutting of multiple guys after not even 1 season. That concerns me.
I can't say that I'm particularly happy the way he let us go into season without a competent CB to start along side our huge question mark (D.Milliner) or the fact that he didn't add another WR to start opposite of Decker until now. He had plenty of money to work with but chose not to. IMO the differane between 1-6 and 5-2
Trades require a partner and the comp picks cant be traded. I doubt Idzik planned to use every pick. I recall him trying to trade for Tampa's second but he already swindled then good once.
Are we prasing Idzik now for drafting Geno?It was fools gold against the Pats Sanchez had good games in Foxboro to .I'm gonna lose my coach because of this bum Idzik
This. We make this trade earlier and got a good CB in the pre-season, we'd be sitting pretty right now on top of the division.
The OP is underrating Tanny. The Santonio and Percy moves were very similar, and Santonio was never considered more of a problem than Percy was when he was traded for. Plus, he'd had more success than Percy has had. Yes, the Ivory trade was good, but it was very similar to Tanny's trade for Thomas Jones. Sanchez was a much more highly regarded prospect than Geno was; it's not like he would have ever had a chance to get him in the second. And Tanny basically gave up nothing to get him short of a second rounder; it certainly didn't "ruin the entire draft." In fact, he got Sanchez for a lot less than the pick value chart says he should have had to give up. Yes, Idzik drafted Richardson, but Tanny drafted Revis. I'm not saying Idzik's doing a bad job, but to say he's done a better job than Tannenbaum when he hasn't had anywhere near the same level of success yet isn't fair.
As I already mentioned in the first post, Harvin has more upside than Holmes, and comes with a much more team-friendly contract situation. We got locked in with Holmes, and most of his stay here was both expensive and fruitless. Much more flexibility with Harvin. Also, the Ivory trade was very different from the Thomas Jones one. We got a young player in Ivory for a 4th round pick. Thomas Jones was a good running back for us, but we got him in his 7th season, which is a lot of mileage on a RB, and we got him for the 37th overall pick, that's almost a first round pick. The Bears gave us 63rd 2nd round pick in return, which is almost a 3rd rounder. That's a lot more value lost for an older guy. I don't think Sanchez was much more highly regarded than Geno. Lots of people here, for example, hated both picks. At some point way before the draft, Geno was thought to go number 1 overall. Idzik had no way of knowing he would fall to the 2nd round. You are right that we didn't trade away the entire draft for him, only the 2nd pick, I forgot that in his genius, Tanenbaum traded away the other 3 picks we had that year for Greene in the 3rd. But that's just more of the same. We can't judge Idzik's entire job yet, since he hasn't had nearly as much time as Tannenbaum yet, but I just meant that whenever they had similar types of decisions, I think Idzik's were much more conducive to long term success.
Tanny (Black trunks) vs Idzick (white trunks): Tanny's record 57 wins 55 losses Idzick 9 wins 14 losses
He was comparing the Sanchez/Holmes era to the Smith/ Harvin era. If we had made the SB either or both of those years, no one is batching about Tanny and cap hell. Tanny also brought in Edwards at a fair price, along with Cro to go along with Revis. That's a very good team... on both sides of the ball.
Yes I know, that's a bad comparison. Tanny had was 4-12 in his second year and idzik is in his second year. And yes if the jets won a super bowl everyone would be more happy, but they did not so we are dealing with that scenario. Tanny did a very good job creating a loaded team for 2-3 years, he then struggled trying to rebuild it and was let go because of it.
Tannenbaum: So once again we haven't a 2nd or 3rd round pick this year? (11-5 ---> 6-10) Idzik: So does this guy really really have an eye for talent?
Finally -- someone with a brain around here. Idzik is not the problem, he is trying to fix the problem that was not created overnight and cannot be fixed overnight. It is way to early to even try to judge his performance. What it isn't too early for is to judge our lousy head coach -- overall losing record, consistent teams with penalty and discipline issues, horrible special teams, inept offenses, defensive breakdowns on third and longs all the time etc. This team was not going to win the division or go anywhere into the post season this year -- NO MATTER WHAT -- another receiver or CB in the off season was not going to make the difference.
How can some of you defend Idzik I would rather move up in the draft and get the player you want instead of picking players in the later rounds that don't make the team His two drafts are very questionable especially in the later rounds This years draft looks really bad Pryor looks slow can't cover hits with his shoulder amaro looks like a player but has big issues with drops and not a blocker but second round te should be players The rest of the draft was just awful 3 WR in the 4th round cut one, stash one on ir, and don't dress the third I know it's their first year but with this talent at WR they should be playing He picked to cb with injury concerns and guess what they are both injured When it comes to free agency it is even worse Whiffed on all the best cb talent then signed a guy who went well awol in Patterson just awful Goodson another awful signing His best move by far was getting ivory actually one of the only good moves he has made Signed Chris Johnson who has showed why Titans let him go, he is am average player at best drafted winters in the 3rd round (by the way guards in the 3rd round should be players) he looked terrible before he was hurt How about signing a blocking te since we wanted to ground and pound I can't believe anyone has any faith in a guy who has shown us two vad drafts and brought us ivory in free agency and nothing else
