It still hurts to have to cut players like that because for so many years we didn't even have players that good. Now, it's a great position to be in, to be so talented that we can cut players that years ago, we'd have been trying to acquire.
I see a number of problems with your projection. First and most importantly, who's gonna play LT if Brick gets hurt? Similarly, who's gonna play RT if Giacomini gets hurt? You can't go into a season with no backup OTs. Sorry, but that's just awful. Bohanon? Why? He contributes nothing to this offense. EVANS over Owusu or Enunwa? No way. No backup NT? Only 5 DL? No way. I see no way they'll keep 9 LBs. Babin needs to go. 5 Safeties? I don't see it.
You could be right. I don't know if Slater (or whomever the writer was for the Star Ledger) created his depth chart from who played at the Green-White Practice, or if it was the official depth chart as of now given to him by Bowles. If it's the former, you could definitely be right. If it's the latter, you could still wind up being right as things could change dramatically in the next 2-3 weeks.
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think they can put Milliner on the PUP list. I believe that's only for non-football injuries. He would either have to stay on the roster or go on the short term IR list, which would keep him out through at least 6 games, I believe, maybe more.
You have to keep depth regardless of who the best 53 players are. I also don't think you have the best 53 players.
Based on the official depth chart listed in another thread, here is the current OL situation. 1st string - Ferguson, Carpenter, Mangold, Colon, Giacomini 2nd string - Ijalana, Dozier, Freeman, Winters, Qvale 3rd string - Charles Brown, Aboushi, Wesley Johnson, Harrison, Brewer This is a bit surprising imo. I like that Dozier is showing something at OG, but evidently, neither he nor Winters looked that good at center. Wesley Johnson is a bit of a surprise as the 3rd string center because I haven't seen his name listed to the center position. Qvale has been mentioned almost exclusively at RG, so I'm surprised to see him as the backup RT. I had assumed that they were trying him at OG because they weren't happy with any of the others and he hadn't looked that good at RT. That's good news. He's young, cheap and can play OT or OG. After how bad Winters had looked previously, I'm surprised that he has looked pretty good at RG, and that Aboushi isn't even in the mix at RG, and is instead 3rd string LG. Barring injury or a collapse in play during the rest of TC and the preseason, it appears that Ferguson, Carpenter, Mangold, Giacomini, and Colon are locks. Colon won't make many people happy, but hopefully he will have eliminated the penalties and will play better this year. Assuming the Jets keep only 9 OL, I would think that barring a TC cut pickup or injury, Ijalana and Qvale are locks as well. That leaves 2 spots for backup OGs and backup C. I would think that they would then keep Dozier and Winters as the backup OGs, and that one of them would function as the backup C, but guess they could surprise and keep 10 OL and keep Freeman. I hope Harrison will make it through waivers to the PS.
NFI essentially works the same as PUP, but it is considered distinct from PUP. Milliner would be eligible for PUP, but i believe it does require him to miss the first 6 games. as he might be healthy enough to return by week 4, getting him back a little earlier could be a reason they don't designate him with that. personally i think they should use the PUP on him tho.. we have to depth to be able to ease him back in. i'd rather retain another player on the initial 53 in the meantime.
If he's eligible, I feel the same way. Milliner will most likely miss at least the first 2 games of the year. No need to rush him back either. Marcus Williams, Dex McDougle, and Marcus Williams have shown to be very decent backups. Dee isn't starting anyway so the drop in talent will be minimal if any. This way the Jets can keep on an extra RB like Daryl Richardson until Ridley returns or perhaps keep an extra WR.
Sorry but if you're going to criticize someone's roster projection, you'll need to do a little better than "no way" each time you disagree. Why is there no way it could look like this? If Brick or Breno go down with injury, there's no one on the current roster who can replace their production. Aboushi played a little tackle in college, he's probably their best bet. The rest of the guys listed as tackles are scrubs and will be available as street free agents in a month. Chan likes using a fullback, so Bohanon makes it. Evans is having a nice TC, although Enunwa could maybe take his spot. Owusu just suffered another bad concussion and probably isn't coming back anytime soon, if ever. I know he's talented but he can't stay on the field, he's useless to us. Who is your choice for backup nose tackle? Again, there is no one on the roster who is capable unless you believe TJ Barnes or Deon Simon are starter material. If either one of them make it, it should be because they've proved they can handle it, not because we need a body. We're better off stashing one or both of them on the practice squad and activating them if/when needed. 9 LBs is reasonable because we have few well-rounded options there. Last year Coples/Babin split time at one spot and it sounds like Pace/Mauldin will split time at the other. Not sure why Babin has to go, he proved last year he was still very effective rushing the passer. Again, 5 safties? If all 5 are talented and can contribute to your team, whether it's as a starter or on special teams, who cares how many you carry??
Looks like w/ AA out for the year, Rontez Miles should secure a roster spot. He's been decent the last few practices.
Fair enough, following are my reasons for my objections. I disagree that there is no one on the roster who can play the tackle positions. Are they as good as Brick and Breno? No, but they don't have to be, and few teams (if any, which I doubt there are) have backups at every position that are as good as their starters. Ijalana has hung around on the Jets roster for the last 2-3 seasons for a reason. Qvale has been impressing the CS. They would NOT be available as street FAs in a month. That's absurd. Just like the QB position, there aren't enough quality OTs to go around in the NFL. If the Jets waived them, someone would grab them up. Any street agents would not only not be as good as those two, but wouldn't know the offense, and would have no chemistry built up with any of the other OL. The Jets' season would be screwed. As it is the Jets' season would take a hit, but not necessarily be screwed. OL play isn't about 5 individuals going out there and playing. It's about those 5 individuals working together as a unit. There's a mathematical formula that speaks to this: "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts." Where do you get that Chan likes using a FB? I've read nothing to that extent and don't recall his being so big on using a FB all the time. He's flexible and adapts to the talent he has on hand. If he has a quality FB on his roster, he finds a way to make use of them, but Bohanon is NOT a quality FB and he's most certainly not one of the 53 best players on the roster. That's just laughable imo. Evans had a good 1st week, then had a lot of drops, he's started picking it up again, but I don't think he brings as much to the table as either Owusu or Enunwa. You make it seem like Owusus as been frequently injured. He's had a number of concussions in the past, but I believe that it has been a while since he had one. I've seen nothing to indicate that he will be out a long time. To make it seem like he can't stay on the field is just flat out wrong and dumb. TJ Barnes is the backup. He is plenty capable. You don't know what you're talking about. Again, he doesn't have to be as good as Harrison, but he is plenty good. NTs are in demand. You can't just go and pick one off a tree. The Jets may be worried that they need to keep both Barnes and Simon because whichever one the waive and try to get on the PS could get claimed or signed off of the PS. Barnes has been having a good camp, and I believe made the team last year as a UDFA and did very well. You have to have depth and rotational players to keep players fresh and help prevent injuries and to keep them from wearing down by the end of the season. Any knowledgeable fan knows that. You're making yourself look VERY ignorant with your comments and claims that the team doesn't need backups and that we have no capable backups/depth. Again you show your ignorance. You don't keep extra players at one position because you don't have "well-rounded options" there, especially not at the expense of other KEY positions where you won't have any depth. Reilly is showing that he's capable, and he's much younger than Babin or Pace. Ik is also showing that he's a capable situational pass rusher, which is what Babin is at this stage of his career. Babin is not the future. He's 35. Why keep him, and cut a young player like Reilly and/or Ik who have great motors, are developing nicely and have more room to grow and improve? It makes no sense. Babin most certainly won't be on the team next year. Reilly and Ik could be. The starters at OLB by the end of the season could be Mauldin and Coples or Mauldin and Reilly or Ik. Your rationales for your decisions are just flawed. Miles is not nearly as talented as a lot of the players you advocate cutting. One has to have depth. One has to have somewhat of a balance between offense and defense. There is absolutely no compelling reason to keep 5 safeties. It would be different if we had 5 young Ed Reed types of if we could keep 55 players on the roster. We don't and we can't. They're trying Walls as an emergency safety. He will make the team as a CB/S. Pryor & Gilchrist are the starters. Jarrett will be the primary backup. Miles will REALLY have to make a case for himself in the rest of camp and preseason to stick. He's having a great camp, but it's just a matter of numbers. If they keep Miles and count Walls as a S, that's 5. Eskridge isn't making this team. With 5 safeties, they would only be able to keep one fewer CBs, LBs or DL. Rontez Miles is a nice player, but imo he isn't better than Marcus Williams, TJ Barnes or any of the backup LBs we have.
Being "decent" isn't justification for keeping him over someone else imo. They're having Walls learn the S position. I think 4 safeties is all they would have ever carried before AA got hurt, and I think that's all they'll carry now, with Walls being the 4th. With injuries and a suspension on the DL, they'll probably have to keep an extra player there, and with Milliner hurt, they'll probably keep an extra CB. Several of the young WRs are stepping up and going to make it hard on Bowles as well. Miles is a nice player, and hard hitter, but imo he's not fast enough to ever see the field much at S. If he makes the team I will be surprised.
I don't see Bohanon making it either. He's more of an old school fullback (lead blocker) with no receiving skills, Chan doesn't use those in his offense. Jace will take over his spot, playing the H-Back position with a little blocking and mostly just catching the ball.
I see Walls as a "break glass in case of emergencies" safety if you catch my drift. As a precaution. Walls is still on the depth chart as a CB, so I mean he's officially not a safety. 11 DBs isn't out of the ordinary right? Especially since Milliner can't stay healthy - it would be best not to convert Walls to a full time safety. Miles might make the roster, he's got a chance since AA is out. I didn't think Miles would make it either - gotta have safeties on the roster though. Bowles at times will roll with 3 safeties on certain packages.
I agree that he has a chance, and he's been giving it a good shot. I'll give him that. Bowles might keep him just to have 4 real safeties on the roster, and no, 11 DBs isn't unheard of and what I thought Bowles might keep anyway, but that was including AA, not Miles. Miles isn't AA. Miles isn't better than some of the depth at other positions. I know that Bowles has used a lot of 3 safety packages in the past, but with AA out, I can't help but wonder if he would now. IMO there's a pretty big dropoff between Jarrett and Miles. Putting 3 safeties on the field on any one play when one only has 4 is risky. What if another gets hurt? Then the position is really weakened. He may still do it, but if I was him, I wouldn't.
Yeah I agree, Miles no doubt is not AA or even Jarrett. Miles, we can have him play on special teams so we don't have to trout out Jarrett or any of the other starting safeties. I would love to see Gilchrist, Pryor and Jarrett on the field at the same time though, could generate some potential turnovers. Can't play the what-if game in terms of injuries, they are part of the game. I think Miles can really help out on ST - as our STs have been hurting for a while now.
You have a good point about what Miles can do on STs. I'd love to see the three of them together on the field as well, but I think one has to keep in mind the possibility of injuries. They are part of the game. That's why I don't think you can ignore the very real possibility of them, and proceed as normal. I think one must then adjust one's schemes accordingly. What if two of them got hurt on the same play? The Jets' season could go down the tubes in a hurry.
Yeah, I hear you about injuries - it's a tough discussion to have. How many reps do you give this guy compared to others and such. It might be rare to see 3 safeties out there. I guess it depends on the packages Bowles is willing to run. The possibilities in terms of formations and creating mis-matches are endless.