Unless the Jets address the OL in FA with dependable upgrades - unlikely based on their track record - they either need to trade back and get a 2nd rounder and use quality picks to address the OL in the draft, or take the best OT available at 10. Any other move would be sickening. Forget about taking even a great receiver (or TE). If whoever the QB doesn't have time to get them the ball it's a waste. THE OL MUST BE FIXED NOW!
Among my many regrets over last year's Will McDonald pick is passing on Dalton Kincaid and letting him go to the Bills. He is the next great TE, IMO.
DAMN!!! You beat me to it, Byz! Made it all the way to page 3 of the thread and was crossing my fingers but you got there first you crafty man!!! lol You just KNOW that's what they'll do because it's the Jets. The second area on the whole team (DL being the first) where we don't need a soul but this is where they'll go and lay down as, "he was the BPA at the time!" LOL LOL LOL Get ready for the Sauce and Kool-Aid!!!! I just realized, THIS is why I can't quit the Jets. Where in the hell am I going to go where I can exercise my useless wit on something that deserves every ounce of ridicule humanly possible!?!
Jets are predicted (after likely cuts etc) to have around $17m in cap space which puts us around the lower part of mid-table (compared to teams like the Commanders that are due to have over $80m) - so with that money we can probably sign either a good tackle or good guard in free agency and that's probably about it as pretty much every team seems to have a need to fix their o-line.
Jason from over the cap has us around $90 million projected. I think that is very optimistic, but getting to around $60 is absolutely feasible with a few cuts/restructures.
How though? And with the restructures are we just kicking the can down the road further? Because I’d rather just eat some dirt next year and stop moving money further and further away.
I’ll listen to the pod again later today where he was on with the Joe Caporoso and Connor Rogers and get the specifics but he sounded very confident in the Jets financials. Probably a lot to do with kicking it down the road and waiting for the cap to boom to $300 million in 2 yrs
Bowers is a great fit. He is really fast and a mismatch Garrett Wilson downfield, Bowers working the middle and Breece Hall out of the backfield. That's a dynamic offense
We need a tackle but the bulk of the line needs an overhaul. We need more picks, so hopefully we trade down.
But therein lies the problem. Elite LT's are extremely rare and it's unusual for a team to let one walk in FA (Trent Williams is the biggest exception that comes to mind). We are probably looking at more George Fant-level players being available.
Adding an impact skill guy like Bowers or Nabers is an extremely tempting idea. If the Jets through some combination of OL coach swap/free agent pickups/vodoo feel like they are able to fix their OL to the point of being good enough to go into the 2024 season without using their #1 pick on a tackle that would be great. But I'm skeptical it can be responsibly done. I feel like the loss of the 2nd round pick really kills that here. I'm afraid the Jets position is going to mean we've got to burn our top 10 pick on the non premium tackle prospect just so we don't have an encore performance of this year's disaster. And who knows. Maybe we'll actually get lucky for once and the #3 or #4 tackle guy we get will end up surprising to the upside.
I'm gonna push back here as somebody who believes that Chicago (correctly imo) decides to keep Fields as the next Lamar/Hurts with an improved supporting cast and runs with the pick haul instead. With zero chance of Harrision Jr making it past Arizona, and/or still being on the board by the time they make their first pick, I'd feel really good betting on them taking one of those tackles at pick 6 (NYG) or 8 (Atlanta). Who are the most likely suspects to be trading up to get their #1. Especially after watching games like yesterday where Fields actually plays well when given the opportunity, but which doesn't show up as such in the box score when their line/blocking was constantly letting guys get through untouched the entire night (and on pretty much every single 3rd down).
Yeah i just don't think that happens. Kraft isn't going to be as desperate/wreckless an owner as a guy like Teppler on what ultimately amounts to a crapshoot decision. He's more grounded then that. And if you are trading that #1 you are getting a much better overall haul going the other routes. Harrison is appealing, but he's not pass over the additional haul when you can still be picking a WR at pick #9 appealing. I think it ends up being QB/QB/QB pick 1-3 and with NE and Wash staying put.
My post said it doesn’t matter if the top 2 tackles are gone when the jets pick, there are a handful of first round tackles to choose from, not just two. The jets are fine. Not to derail this thread, but I hear all the talk and debate from “analysts” on whether the bears should stay with fields or move on, and I frankly can’t understand why it’s even a debate or how in the world anyone with the number 1 pick would stay with him. He’s had 3 years of starting experience yet he’s made no real improvement. He’s the same guy he was his rookie year, even when adding skill around him like a #1 receiver, a really good offensive line, and a nice receiving TE (not to mention a much improved defense. 3 years in and he’s still the same. I can’t imagine how anyone decides to stick with that over the best QB prospect in some time. Another question is, name another starting QB who’s had this long of a leash already? There can’t be many. He’s had his opportunity there.
The problem with what you just laid out there is that it ultimately amounts to a surface level only evaluation take. As if you just pulled up Fields' football-reference page, took a quick peak at his counting stats, and made a simplified conclusion based on that. Kinda similar to how people simply looked in at Aaron Rodgers 26 empty calorie TD passes last season, likely without watching a single 2022 GB game in it's entirety, and simply concluded there was no question he still had it with no reason for any concern Year 1 can easily be argued as a washout with Nagy. Ya know, the same guy who stepped into KC as OC this past year and saw Patrick Mahomes of all people get broken under his watch. Not to mention he had a league worst supporting offensive cast around him. Year 2 sees a new GM, HC and OC. Fields is asked to learn a completely new offensive system from the *other* guy (Getsy) who parlayed being good at getting Aaron Rodgers his coffee into a high profile job. Who (like Hackett) ended up being clearly in over his head out the gate while trying to formula his "no definitive scheme" brainchild offense that would actually work or fool anybody. Still also surrounded with the worst supporting offensive cast in the league. Year 3 Getsy (unlike Hackett) improves at his job and finally appears be gelling more as the year goes on with an offensive plan that works better for Fields. Supporting cast gets better. Fields has now shown progressive underlying improvement in each of the 2 years he's been in his system, and combined with his rushing upside is now already playing at an above average 2023 NFL QB level overall since coming back from injury. To a point you don't have to squint all that hard at this point to see Lamar or Hurts level production if given the same surrounding level of support (or vice versa as a mirror application if you were to take those guys and project out what that would look like in Chicago). The team has been competitive and will be entering 2024 as a legit NFC playoff contender as is. Fields is not Zach Wilson. It's nowhere near as clear cut a call to press the reset button as the people on the outside are making it out to be. Especially once you start actually factoring in the probability odds you actually hit that production homerun that > what Fields can already give you now (+ a whole lot of extras) with your draft pick.
