When it comes to Salary. The Jets are in great position. They dont their $$ tied in 2 positions like most teams. We had Bell, and Tru Johnson eating lots of cap with little impact on the games. CJ Mosley can be an issue but he can be solution as well. By trading Adam's that made of Salary situation better and should have sped up our rebuild... A great trade by JD! Usually teams get stuck with big QB contracts, and overpay for RBs. We dont have those issues. We should be able to retain any player we want, and pick and choose who we want to lock for long term. We have good flexibility going into next season. Jets should sign Darnold to a 2/3 contract incentive based.
Yeah, this isn't 40 years ago when Walt Michaels wanted bookends Marvin Powell and Chris Ward. Different era, esp. pre-1978.
If Justin Fields can kick ass in 9 days....if he can shine alongside Trevor Lawrence...and if by some chance OSU advances again against Alabama/ND..........the HYPE could really turn that #2 pick into something salvageable. Then we either take Fields at #2 or trade the pick for a bunch of draft capital. Fields HAS TO light it up...he has to play well......350+ yards, 70% completion rate, 120 or more QB rating. If he can do that, we'll be looking at an RGIII-type haul.
I think on defense, jets need to build their secondary. Hall looks like hes developing into a solis status, and Bless is a good CB 3. We need to sign one of the best corners available. Unfortunately, i really think we are going to lose Maye to a playoff/contending team.
I don't think we'll get Wilson if we trade down. If Douglas likes him, he needs to take him at #2, or if he can work the trade with the Bengals, then at #3.
If Douglas likes Fields, he should take him at #2. If he doesn't like Fields, but likes Wilson, he should take him at #2. When you need a new QB, it's not time to get greedy. Take your QB and don't look back. The only way he could perhaps safely trade down is if he plans on taking Trask or Lance.
The Jets don't have to make the Darnold 5th year option decision until a week after the draft this year. That gives them a lot of space in which to make a good decision based on who they draft and who the new head coach is. They could easily make that call: to pick up Darnold's 5th year option, and then decide later in the year that they'd like to give him the 2/3's deal you are discussing. They have a lot of latitude here to make an informed decision about the most important position on the roster. I hope they use as much of it as they can before they decide to bite the bullet or move on. The reality at this point is that Darnold has given them very little reason to hold onto him long term but he has done that in the most unfavorable circumstances. The parallel between his career and Drew Brees through 3 seasons is fairly close with the primary difference being that Brees had more support on the field than Darnold has. We just do not know what Darnold is capable of doing with other star power on the field beside him because the only guy in 3 seasons that has kind of filled the bill was a rookie LT who missed time due to injuries. The Jets will never get the same opportunity to vet Darnold that the Chargers had to vet Brees on the field because La'Dainian Tomlinson was one of the greatest offensive forces of all time and in ascent mode when Brees played for them. Antonio Gates was one of the greatest TE's of all time when Brees played for them. Despite these advantages Brees failed to impress until the Chargers had already gone and gotten his replacement in the draft. There's nobody the Jets are likely to be able to acquire via draft, trade or free agency that is even half the player that Tomlinson and Gates were. So the Jets are going to have to make the assessment on Darnold in real time in less than perfect circumstances. Joe Douglas has his work cut out for him. It would help if Douglas hired the new HC so at least they were in full press mode together instead of being on different time frames. The Jets rebuild probably requires that Douglas have that type of pull at this point.
The Ravens Plan has been inferior to the Steelers plan for the last generation. The big difference is that the Steelers had Ben Roethlisberger at QB and the Ravens have not had as good a QB in the mix at any point. The Steelers have won 178 games in the regular season since they drafted Roethlisberger. The Ravens have won 159 over that span. Still a very good run but not the run the team with the great QB had.
Bengals won't trade...they know we aren't taking anybody they want. Why would they trade UP and pay us ?
These are great points and I don't envy JD at all if we end up at #2. It's all about risk management from here...Do you stay with the guy you have (Darnold) that has way under produced because he's played terribly, been coached terribly and been surrounded with terrible talent, in the hopes that a good coach and improved talent can turn him into the player we all thought he'd be, all the while having to pay him big bucks??...Or do you trade Darnold and take a chance on a rookie QB in the draft, who's cheap and who you can surround with talent while having the time to develop him correctly under a good coach for 4 years prior to having to pay him?? We all want to mitigate risk by choosing the plan with the highest chance for success and least chance for failure...even then it could end up not working out but as long as you made the decision with the correct information and with a sound process that's all we can ask for...TL is obviously that route but doesn't seem like he will be an option. I saw Wilson play last night and he looked great and incredibly mobile, albeit throwing to pretty wide open receivers all night with great protection...he's basically a one year wonder which scares me a bit too but clearly looked like a better prospect than Fields at this point. I call it the Matt Leinart conundrum...how can you tell how good a QB actually is when they play an inferior team mostly every week, have superior talent at the skill positions and have incredible protection because their OL is more talented than the DL of the opposing team...I certainly don't have the answer to any of this stuff but think for the first time in a very long time we have a guy in JD that I trust to make these incredibly hard decisions. I also agree that hiring the right coach, asap, to help make that joint decision is critical as it will likely be the decision that JD/New Coach will be married to and likely get fired for if it doesn't work out. The only thing I don't want to see is panic...While I agree with NC that you shouldn't get cute with QB's, if you need a QB and there's a good that you really, really like, you draft him without trying to get tricky and trading back etc...What I don't want to have happen though is, if you need a QB and you're not enamored with him but think he's just better than what you have now (Darnold) and you reach by taking him way higher than his talent level suggests (i.e. w/ the #2 pick), then I think it will end up being a failure. So to me it essentially comes down to how high will JD/New Coach rate the QB options below TL...Do they love one of them enough to take that high or do they end up looking for just the next best option QB and like but not love one of them and still reach for him at #2. I trust JD not to do that but it is a concern...
Fant has played well this year and should come back next year. Jets desperately need to improve both guard positions. Using such a valuable pick on a second LT prospect is not going to be the best use of that pick. It’s gotta come down to does JD and new CS believe in Darnold still or love either Fields or Wilson. If they love Fields or Wilson then you take one at 2. If they believe in Darnold they have to trade down. It would be such poor value out of the 2 pick to take any position other than QB. Sewell would make sense if we didn’t draft Becton last year but we did and moving him to RT after the promise he shows at LT would be beyond stupid. The problem becomes I’m not sure how many teams at the top of draft are going to be all in on moving up for a QB so the question becomes how far are the Jets going to be willing to move down. I wouldn’t mind moving down but staying in Jamarr Chase/ DaVonta Smith territory.
Sewell is said to be a generational talent at Left OT... which is arguably the 2nd most important position in football. The Bengals may not be able to afford to sit at #3 and hope either the Jets don’t take him and/or someone else doesn’t trade up to get him. Again, Sewell at just 20 is said to be a generational - Anthony Munoz type talent. Burrow needs protection help badly... The Jets could probably pick up an extra 3rd rounder to move down one spot.
Your first sentence is exactly why Cincy won't feel the need to trade up. We have one of those already, we aren't taking Sewell. The only thing they have to worry about is someone else trading up to get him but that's also how the Bears ended up with Trubisky...
IF JD moves on from Sam....he almost has to (I said 'almost')...he most likely takes BYU QB Zach Wilson at #2. Just my take. Fields could redeem himself with a good game against Bama but eh, I don't see it at this moment.
I don't think that the issue. Becton is on track to become (if he isn't there already) a top tier LT. Sewell is projected to be the same. It will be tying up too much money in a single position, with one of them playing out of position (possibly less efficiently) and the team paying over the odds to keep him because LTs are generally paid more than RTs.
But still, the Ravens have had a winning record, and been a contender for much of that time, even without a really good QB. And given how hard it is to find a really good QB, it wouldn't be surprising if Douglas follows that recipe, hoping that he can find that QB, but if he doesn't at least the team is competitive. I'm not saying I really like that approach - not putting heavy focus on finding a great QB, but I could understand it if that's what Douglas does.
On paper that sounds correct, but considering who is at WR, RB, TE... who are the Jets paying the extra $4M/year that is going to prevent them from taking Sewell? Becton can play RT. Is the reason you don’t see two elite OT’s on a team because of money or is it because they are harder to find than a starting Qb in today’s NFL... If Sewell is the next Munoz, the Jets might not have a choice but to figure it out/skimp on salary elsewhere. You could also trade one down the line.
Has Fant played well enough to justify $9.5M next year? The contract was structured to allow the Jets to evaluate Fant this year and decide if they were happy with paying him a premium in 2021 and 2022. 2 sacks allowed, 2 penalties taken in 697 snaps seems ok. PFF has a 62.1 grade on him which seems so-so but I'm not fully onboard with their ranking system so I don't know if that is a deciding factor. This is probably a tough decision for the Jets at this point. A decent rookie, maybe addressed in the 3rd round or later, seems like they would be a push at worst vs paying big money to Fant. It's going to take a lotta love out of Douglas and the Jets coaching staff to take the 2nd best QB on the #2 pick when the roster is as weak as it is right now. The Jets can probably get 3 or 4 high picks out the #2 given that Sewell and the top WR will still be there. Also, it is not unreasonable to project some team in the NFL deciding one of the remaining QB's is worth the #2. The question is what is your cutoff value for present return received on the trade? Is it a top 5 pick? Is it a top 10 pick plus another high pick this season? Where do you draw the line at present vs deferred value? The deferred value is likely to be strong, a 1st round pick in 2022 plus something else in that draft. What is the amount of current value you would accept alongside that to trade out of the #2? This is the crux of the question. Clearly there is going to be a WR you can envision building around in the top 10. How far can the Jets move down and still get one of Chase, Smith or Waddle? Do they like Waddle enough to take him on the 8 through 10 if the other two are gone?
