We'll see. Second week on the road for them after the London trip. They're a 3.5 favorite however, which is a lot as an away team.
Exactly. I'm as sick of impatient fans, those who don't think a rebuild necessary, or those who want to win 8 games this year, as I am dumb moves by Woody. So many posters want to try to take a short cut, and there are no short cuts. Trying to take one always bites you in the ass in one way or another. The very idea of our signing Cousins is dumb imo. I understand that they want to win and have some excitement, but the rebuild needs to be completed the right way, and not try to rush or force things before the team is ready. We don't need to go back to bringing in older, expensive FAs. Cousins is a good QB, but he isn't all that. I'd rather go 0-16 3 straight seasons than sign Cousins.
QB is one position teams really need to bring in through the draft and have them play on their rookie contract for 4-5 years. That's how Seattle won the SB....they loaded up with excellent draft pics all playing at high level for pennies. The second they started hitting FA the team fell apart. Just couldnt afford to keep them. The same would happen here, especially if we brought in a $30M/yr guy from day one. The minute our bread and butter players came due (Leonard, Mo again, Adams,) we'd have to let them go. Teams HAVE to have a core of young talented players playing on their rookie contracts. As soon as your top players start hitting their 2nd contracts your team goes by-by (ravens). This would be a GREAT time to get a FQB out of college with our team so young a seemingly talented (and cheap!)
Kirk Cousins, whose record isn't that impressive, will be 30 next year. Assuming the Jets did finish out of the running for one of the top three (a highly unlikely scenario) then I would rather the Jets do one of two things. 1) Draft one of the "lesser" ranked QB's such as Mayfield, Rudolph, Jackson or Falk. In any other year these guys might be at the top of the draft anyway. 2) Trade up and get the guy they consider the best fit. This is something I felt they should have done instead of tanking.
The problem with signing a veteran quarterback is that they will take up much of the cap space that can be used to better the team. The Seahawks can't put together a good offensive line because of it (although they also sacrificed that when they signed their defenders to huge contracts). The Ravens have experienced similar troubles although all is right in the world when you draft well. That's why it would be great to hit on a young quarterback because you can get the better part of 4-5 seasons of them on their rookie deal. The problem is that that is an incredibly short window once they are developed, and you have to think about year 3 and 4 as your real chance to gear up for a Super Bowl run. However, franchises that draft well don't have as large of an issue with this. The franchise quarterback can mask a lot of the issues of a deficient roster as well. I like Cousins. He's deadly accurate. Not sure why you don't like him.
The only time it would have made sense to sign a QB like Cousins would have been back in 2008 or 2009 when Damien Woody, Kris Jenkins and some other Jets were nearing the end of their careers and there was a small window in which to win. For a young, rebuilding team, it makes zero sense. As I see it, if the Jets wind up missing out on Darnold and Rosen, either because one or both stayed in school or other teams took them before the Jets could, the Jets have three choices. One, depending upon where Mayfield, Rudolph, Jackson and Falk are rated, they could either stay put and take one, or try to trade down and take one. Two, decide to roll with Petty and Hack and draft a QB in the 3rd or 4th round, and then either stay put and take either the best LT prospect or the best edge-rushing prospect with their #1 pick, or try to trade down and get an additional 2nd pick and/or other picks and fill as many holes as they can. Three, decide to roll with Petty and Hack and yet another JAG FA, and then try to trade down to get at least an additional 2nd round pick if not additional picks, and look to fill as many holes (LT, edge rusher, #1 WR, RT, C, RB, ILB and maybe CB) as they can. The idea of trading up for a FQB in 2018 is most likely a delusional one. The only chances the Jets would have would be if either the Colts or the Bears had the top pick, and even then the Bears may have decided that Trubisky isn't as good as they thought or the Colts could be tired of Luck's being injured and missing games, and decide to get some insurance by drafting another topflight QB.
Why do you think that is so likely? That move would make zero sense to me, and would be the worst possible thing they could do. It would be as bad as signing Cousins. The Jets are rebuilding, and it's going to take more than one more off season to complete the rebuild. Adding a Smith or Cousins would more than likely bring a premature end to the rebuild and the Jets would start signing older vet FAs again to try to be as competitive as possible. That would be dumb imo. It would insure that their record would be so good that their chances of even sniffing, much less getting a FQB would be nil. Why would Smith want to sign here, rather than with a contending team? Two, why would the Jets want to sign an older QB to an expensive contract that would take up a lot of their cap, when they were still in the midst of a rebuild? They need to be patient and finish the rebuild in the right time frame and not try to rush it or take any short cuts.
FAs who even consider coming are surely aware that they would be joining a young developing team and that they can't count on SB relevance for a few years. Sure, an FQB would make them more willing to join, but currently we're playing a 38 year old and not developing the young QBs so what message is that sending? I'm not that confident that the number 1 pick will solve all of our problems, the team needs to be well prepared for the possibility of not being able to draft a good QB and work on ways to attract FAs with that in consideration.
Honestly though, it's really all about the money. Sure players want to win. But so few players make it to the end of their contract or get all of the money written into that contracts that they jump at the chance to get as much guaranteed money as possible. Money talks and we have a lot of cap space. If they were so concerned with winning over money, players wouldn't ever sign with the Browns, Jags, Rams, etc. in the past 15 years, and the Cardinals, Saints, Bengals, etc. in the 90s. The only true deterrent from a player signing somewhere would be a move to London. I can't imagine anyone wanting to relocate to another country and endure those flights just to see their family and what not.
For veterans, sure, for established very good players, sure. I don't think it's the case for good prospects and developing players. I would say they're are very concerned with how a team is run, is it developing the players properly, does it create an atmosphere where a player can improve, is it well coached, etc. Look at Peterson as an example, he got the money (I assume) but he joined a team where he's a pretty bad fit. So that's another dimension. I mean, yeah, money is certainly a plus and can tip the balance in some cases, but I think it's very important how the team presents itself. We also can't disregard the possibility of the team overpaying a player, so I would urge caution. I somehow doubt that the management of the team has a clear vision of what they actually want the team to look like, if we go just randomly picking up FAs just because we have the cash, I don't think it's gonna turn out well. If I were making decisions, I would be very sparing with veterans, I would rather develop the young guys instead of getting a vet that has 2 more years left in the tank. If we're rebuilding, let's rebuild from the ground up.
I thought we already had our old Qb on the roster. Lets overpay for yet another Vet with a marginal arm so we can cut the older Qb with the marginal arm. That's the way to build a mediocre dynasty for years to come. We will be the best damn mediocre team in the NFL one day! Aim low.. go jetz..
#1 would be a possibility, especially if they were able to grab Barkley with their 1st pick. That would greatly increase the chances of one of these "lesser" QBs being successful. #2 isn't likely. even if the team with the #1 pick were willing to trade down, they would demand a prohibitive price - look what the Bears paid, and you can assume it would be even higher than that. At that cost, I don't know if I would do it. I MIGHT if Rosen continues to show he's as good as I believe he is: P. Manning good. Even so, it would be hard to pull the trigger on that deal.
1. He's going to be the best vet on the market next year. 2. With unproven QBs on the roster, you need a guy who's a proven competent QB that you can trust. 3. He's not going to command a ton of money. 4. Alex Smith will want to come here for two reasons. One, he has a good chance of being the starter. Two, we are going to have a lot of money to bring in other FA, and hopefully our young players progress so thay we can compete next year.
In my experience, free agents go to whoever is offering the most money. Some of them even end up in Buffalo.
