Steve McLendon: A topic of discussion

I won't lie I wanted to keep Wilkerson at the time due to my belief in him as an impact player, and I was wrong.

But the drop off in run sniffing, run stuffing and run stopping ability @ our NT position has been hard to watch with an aging Steve McLendon all while Damon Harrison has gone on to become an NFL All-Pro animal against the run.

Hindsight is always 20/20 but as it currently stands our defense needs an upgrade @ our 3-4 NT position and sooner, rather than later.

A 32 year old Steve McLendon will not cut it.

 

Yea I loved Wilkerson myself. I believe we all did (before receiving his mega contract and calling it quits).

But at the end of the day it's almost impossible to keep the likes of Wilkerson, Richardson, Snacks and Leonard Williams on the same D-Line: Although 2015 was very fun for me to watch those 4 on the same line (with Richardson playing some OLB) while the Jets 2015 run defense ranked 1st in rushing TD's surrendered, 1st in First-Down runs given up, 2nd in rushing yards allowed and 3rd in average yards per rush attempt against across the board.

I currently feel thankful that we have an NFL blue chip caliber defensive lineman in Leonard Williams to lead the way for our Gang Green's future D-Line and am also hopeful that an underrated/sleeper of a 3rd round rookie in Nathan Shepherd can come into his own alongside of Leonard Williams; but we're a massive and dominant run stopping 3-4 NT away from bringing our defensive line back to it's highest peak and must replace an aging 32 year old DT in Steve McLendon much sooner, rather than later.

He has no long term future here and must be replaced moving forward.

 

I personally like the kid, love his all around athleticism (as I did Jonathan Vilma coming out of Miami U) and am intrigued by his overall potential on the next level.

Say what you say about the kid but he was a walk on @ Ohio State, began to really impress some very good football coaches, proved all of the critics and naysaying pundits wrong and went on to become a Buckeyes star before being drafted as a 1st round NFL draft pick.

He's still very young at only 23 years of age and coming off a 94 tackle, 3.0 sacks, 3 passes defended and 2 forced fumbles type of season as only a 2nd year player who started 15 games and more importantly; improved by leaps and bounds upon his rookie year.

I'm sorry for you if he hasn't transformed and reached Pro Bowl, All-Pro and Hall of Fame Legendary status after (only) two years of play .

But I'll be sure to bump up all of these threads once Darron Lee has a 3rd year breakout performance in front of a much improved Secondary.

(And all of you BETTER ROOT AGAINST HIM; because you will not hear the end of it).

The sooner that a 32 year old Steve McLendon is replaced as a massive downgrade @ 3-4 NT from that of Damon Harrison; the sooner our D-Line can return to elite status.