The 2014 draft looked like it was done by Martians. Every player between the 2nd and 6th rounds was a project or a flat prospect or just plain weird in some way or another. Actually, Dozier wasn't a bad pick but most of them were just like OMG, why would you pick that guy where you took him? Of course the Jets have had a tendency to pick Ducasses and Hills and weird players for quite awhile now. That's why I think Idzik was just taking the guys the scouting department recommended highly. I think he didn't throw Rex any bones after Pryor, who was a good pick, and I think that's when Rex began to go off the tracks. He was watching all these weird picks and thinking he could have done better if the FO just let him take more defensive players and FB's and the like.
I will go on record that I think Idzik got a raw deal and the disaster of the last 2 seasons were more a by product of Rex and that the fact that Idzik took the job even though he had Rex forced on him. Those 2 were never going to be able to work together, and Idzik knew the only way he was going to succeed was to get rid of Rex but taking on Rex was more than he could handle and got himself canned in the process. I still think the 2013 draft most of the right picks were made - hindsight is always 20/20 but in reality every pick was in line with where they should have been, no real head scratchers - some have not worked out, but that doesn't always mean it was the wrong pick at the time. In 2014 - people keep talking about the number of picks, but forget a lot of them could not be traded, most of them were worthless late rounders where talent is rarely f found, yet a few are still around. and once again the early round picks were not out of left field and could still be good players. Are we better with Mac, probably - but Idzik was nowhere the disaster people want to make him out to be. I fully believe that had Rex been fired when Idzik was hired, like he should have been views of Idzik would be different, but the Rex lovers needed their scapegoat.
I'm not a Rex or Idzik lover but there are only 5 out 12 picks from last year on the roster. That's awful and there were only 4 compensatory picks that were not able to be traded. This will go down as probably the worst Jets draft in history in another year, he took the job and he deserved to be fired, Rex and all.
6 of those picks were 5th round or later and generally have about a less than 10% chance of making any roster then add another 3 were fourth rounders. Thank you for just solidifying my point.
Yeah, right. The 2014 draft doesn't look good now (though it's still early), but it's been blown way out of proportion. Everyone keeps repeating 12 picks, 12 picks like a parrot. Any extra picks we had were in 4th round or later, and the hit rate on 4+ round picks is like finding a needle in a haystack. Just cause you buy 2 lottery tickets instead of one doesn't really improve your odds in any real way. And our picks weren't particularly high either, because of the 8-8 finish the year before, so it's not like we blew great draft position. We picked 18th out of 32 in every round in our normal rotation, so basically in the lower half of each round. To say it will be our worst draft ever is simply silly, when we've blown really high position drafts before with such gems as Dewayne Robertson, Vernon Gholston and Mark Sanchez. These were like top 5-10 picks.
If you go thru every NFL team's 2013 and 2014 drafts there are teams that didn't get that many bonafide starters yet due to injury or the player still developing. It's too early to give a final grade. And this goes for Mac too if the guys he drafted this year are slow developers or get injured. If Williams is injured do you blame this on Mac. And look at Devin Smith. Injured. Why not bleme it on the GM (since many of you did for Idzik). And when you draft 12 players not all of them are going to make the team.
The difference is Idzik reached for players he shouldn't have. For example Mcdougle was nowhere near rated as a 3rd round pick.
The same will be said about our current GM, the real question is will it take 1 year or the standard 3 years before the pitch fork's are raised
Just one -- some projected later but many also had him as a third or fourth rounder http://withthefirstpick.com/2014/04/25/2014-nfl-draft-scouting-report-dexter-mcdougle-cb-maryland/ Draft Projection Dexter McDougle has a great skillset for the NFL if he can stay healthy. From strength to speed and quickness, the only thing he is really missing is height. McDougle can help against the run and contribute on special teams as well. He has some inconsistencies with mirroring and missteps that can hurt him and get him exploited, but he is also able to make a number of plays on the football. McDougle could end up in the back end of the third round or early fourth round depending on how teams feel about his health, but he could be a nice player in the NFL if he can avoid injuries.
The coaching and scouting staff liked him even though he was out for his senior year. You can't always go by draft predictions because many times in a draft a team will reach for a player they like. They must have believed if they didn't select him in the 3rd round he would have been taken by another team. The bottom line with Idzik and the secondary was that he was putting resources into it via the draft and invested two first rounders, a 3rd etc and signed good UFAs like Marcus Williams. He made a lot of good moves and some that didn't work.
Things will get interesting in the next few years as Maccagnan's 2015 haul (Revis, Cromartie, Marshall, Fitzpatrick) and previously left-over players (Mangold, Brick, Harris, Pace) get too old to produce while the D-Line stars will demand massive money (Wilkerson, Richardson, Snacks). My guess right now is that if Maccagnan doesn't draft the next couple of years like the Seahawks before their Superbowl run, he'll probably be run out of town as the team goes through its typical quick-fix -> falling apart cycle.
The results were an 8-8 his first year. Not bad. And a 4-12 his second year. And when that happens people get fired. The press conference didn't help him any. It embarrassed him and the org. If Woody was a good owner and a mentor he would have brought Idzik into his office and tried to help him out and advised him about dealing with the press. They were all over him and rumors were he didn't return phone calls and wasn't approachable. And that's part of the job.
The only problem with Woody stepping in to help him manage the press better is that Woody himself is awful at that. If anything, Idzik was cut from the same awkward /odd persona as Woody when public speaking. Woody should only be seen and never heard...
The guy was a newer GM and was having problems with the press even before that press conference. He wasn't handling it well and it's a big part of the job. You would think when the pressure started mounting that Woody could have helped him out. Or maybe brought someone in to smooth things over with the press and help him learn how to work with them. Even after he was fired he went into a shell and didn't say anything (and still hasn't).
Just listening to Mac talk you can tell he is light years better then Idzik i don't even get why people are still talking about him
The Jets should have maneuvered around having that bye week presser somehow. Injuries and Geno were really causing an implosion at that point and there was no way it wasn't going to turn into a massacre given the Jets were never going to be able to control the message or the spin coming out of it. Once they decided to do the presser the only way to survive it was to just open things up for questions right way. No long statements about facts that were apparent to everybody from a mile away. No attempts to deflect the criticism. No cover up. Idzik should have just sat there and answered questions until the press was tired of asking them. Wear them out. Don't get incendiary (would never have happened with Idzik's personality anyway). Just answer the questions one by one. The Jets did get very unlucky with injuries last year but Idzik should have just said that injuries happen and you have to figure a way out anyway. The Jets did spend very little of their cap space on free agents but Idzik should have said that the plan was to create some real flexibility and dynamic opportunities for 2015 without mentioning anything specific beyond that. Geno was imploding and Idzik should have just said that the organization was in the process of reviewing the talent they had acquired in preparation for 2015. Rex's job status was an open question, and I'm not sure what the best answer there would have been. Idzik wasn't going to say anything negative about another member of the Jets organization and he probably should have just said that questions about the status of management team members, including the coaching staff, weren't answerable at that point. He would have been telling the truth when he said that. All of these answers should have been given when the questions inevitably arose during the course of a long Q&A session. The media would have had a field day with all the questions. They'd at least have gone away happy from the presser instead of frustrated with a lot of pent up anger at the Jets newfound secrecy coming out all at once the next day. Once you let the beast into your home you have to feed it or it will eat you alive.
