You might remember a couple of off seasons back it was reported by "the former beat reporter who shall not be named" that the Johnsons had placed spending caps on JD and staff limiting his flexibility during free agency. Douglas denied it and we all poo-pooed the idea because of the person who reported it. But what if his sources were correct? That would certainly be one explanation as to why JD targets tier 2 free agents and not true number ones at any position. The other explanation is it could just be JD's philosophy - sign tier 2 guys and build through the draft. That's what we're being sold anyway. In the meantime, we still have no true #1 receiver, no tight end, a glaring hole in the Oline, no vet backup at QB, Maye more than likely headed out the door, and Mosely probably not far behind. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with the strategy, just wondering if it's JD's approach or, are the purse strings being tightened for a non-football reason. It's not uncommon for someone who is considered "wealthy" to be "asset rich and cash poor", being worth much more on paper than the actual cash flow reflects. It causes me wonder if this is the case with the Johnsons to some degree. It's a game to us, but a business to them.
I have defended him since he was hired, but here we are 3+ years later and the team is just as brutal, if not worse, than when he was hired. I thought this would be the year things changed, but it does not look like it at the moment.
I can almost give him somewhat of a pass on the first Gase offseason. He was building a team for a certain style. While I think that isn't smart... what was he supposed to do? Say no, fuck off? Sure we would have liked that but that's not a realistic option. But the problem is those guys he drafted haven't shown any NFL ability whatsoever. Davis is horrendous, Clark hasn't even seen the field, Morgan was an awful pick the second his name was announced, Zuniga is already on the practice squad. He hasn't shown the ability to find NFL talent anywhere on the field. Now maybe the Carters, Bryce Hall and AVT change that but Joe Douglas doesn't get the benefit of the doubt anymore. You can argue that so far the best pick Douglas has made is a punter.
So, a guy you won't even quote may have claimed there was a spending cap but no other reporter corroborated it and everyone involved denied it (which they would even if it was true) but you want us to not only believe it happened but is still going on? Is that why such claims are made by a couple of people here? If there has been no indication in the twenty plus years that Woody Johnson has owned the Jets that he micromanages the team or tightens the purse strings why should anyone assume he would do it now when now is supposedly the best chance that the Jets have had in fifty years to finally be successful? When a guy's net worth is over six billion dollars, there's always something lying around (assets) he could peddle to pay off the five or ten million or so he owes a couple of former employees and ease his cash flow problems. Hell, he could sell off 25% of the team and put a cool billion of walking around money in his pocket. Whatever reasons Douglas may have for the moves he makes, or doesn't, let's put the "Johnsons are cheap" talk to rest because it makes no sense and can only distract from what's actually happening.
Where did I say I want you or anyone else to believe anything? My post is simply ME openly questioning the philosophy behind JD's free agent strategy. Don't read more into it than is actually there. I also never said the Johnson's are "cheap". Heck, they make a habit of paying 2 head coaches, 2 GMs, and multiple (non-rostered) players simultaneously, season after season. They are good at bleeding money. Is it so unrealistic to think they would want to get that under control by setting a total spending budget that includes everyone still under contract?
I believe the strategy has been to not grossly overpay anyone, which is fine, but a slight overpay here or there isn't the end of the world. Even teams that kill it in the draft need FA's to supplement their cores.
Well, you did ask the question about what if Mehta's sources were correct, right? Why should anyone even consider that when twenty years of Johnson ownership has shown nothing to indicate any penny-pinching. You might not have said they were cheap but you did ask "is this mandated by ownership to recoup money still being paid to former coaches and players?" That sounds pretty close to me, certainly it sounds like someone is concerned with all the hypothetical reasons for Douglas doing what he does. And paying to get somebody hurting the team to go away is not "bleeding money," it's a cost of doing business. You're not the only one who has gone down this road but I think it's baseless.
JD is definitely too stubborn/cheap in FA. Being stingy in FA is generally the right move but he's taken it too far, to the detriment of our OL.
We might lose the next 3 games by some wild margin like 110-40. The Bills, Colts and Bengals are all rolling right now and kicking good teams in the face. What are they going to do with a bad team?
I would've signed a guard or two to push Van Roten off the RG spot. When an OL needs a makeover, FA's and the draft need to be used. It can't be one or the other. Get proven players to fill positions while buying time to find long term solutions.
We're starting to feel the ripple effects of trading up for AVT. Had we kept those third round picks I think one of them would've produced a guard better than GVR. OL's live and die because of their weakest links. It's more important to have no glaring weaknesses than to have all pros at every spot. I'm not saying AVT's been bad, he hasn't. But I would much prefer we had someone slightly worse than him at LG and someone better than GVR at RG.
Yeah, games like yesterday are unacceptable. Can't even use the rookie QB excuse, because the Patriots have a rookie QB too. Can't even use the Wilson was hurt excuse either, because it was 17-0 when it happened. Just brutal.
The defense is crap. I've thought this from Game 1 on. It didn't matter who the QB was yesterday because he would have had to have scored 55 fucking points. And in my opinion which I got killed for, the defense lost the Atlanta game. And even when he drew close, they laid down and let them March the field for the game sealing score.
Absolutely. They are terrible. Obviously losing Mosley hurt, but it was still unacceptable. They played pretty well against the Panthers, Patriots, Broncos, and Titans. Not great, but not bad. Then they looked like a JV team against the Falcons and Patriots the last 2 games. You can't have that when you hire a defensive coach as your Head Coach. Even with all the injuries, the scheme needs to be good enough for the team to play better. Especially against Mac Jones. They did nothing right. And I agree, the Jets D needed to at least give Wilson a chance to win the Falcons game when it was 20-17, but of course, they flopped hard.
AVT's PFF rating is 73.7. The three guards drafted anywhere near him are Teven Jenkis (out for the season) and Landon Dickerson (PFF rating 58.9), Jackson Carman (PFF rating 44.4). That's not slightly worse. That's a HUGE downgrade. You are going from very good to either absolute disaster (Jenkins, Carman) or terrible (Dickerson). Further, if you look at 3d round G as you suggest for the pick we traded for GVR upgrade, you got Jalen Mayfield (drafted 3 round, PFF rating 39.7) or Royce Newman (4th round, PFF rating 44.0). That a HUGE downgrade even from GVR, whose PFF rating is bad 61.4. You are a reasonable and logical poster. Look at the data. By doing this trade JD drastically improved OL vs selecting next best G and picking another in the 3d round. Imagine having a guy worse than even GVR at LG instead of AVT! And a downgrade from GVR on the right side too if we played a 3d round pick there. You cannot look at this data and make a conclusion any different than the trade worked out really good for the Jets.
