How would we have starters as backups at both tackle positions? Even if JD were to draft two OTs, which I doubt that he would do, one would be one of the top 3-4 OTs who could start this season, and the other would be a developmental OT who would need at least a season to learn and develop. Then we'd have our starting OTs going forward. What part of that doesn't make sense? Even if there are good OTs available in FA next year, chances are the Jets won't be able to afford to sign one. The 2025 draft could be a crappy one for OTs. It would be just the Jets typical "luck" (lack of preparation and forethought) to not get at least one of their starters this year. If you think Warren and Mitchell are going to develop into quality starters, then I have a bridge in Maryland I'd like to sell you.
With Fautanu, I agree, but not Fashanu. His strength is in pass protection. He would be very similar to Brick, who was great in pass protection but not very good in run blocking. You didn't answer my other questions. What makes you think Bakhtiari would be healthy? The odds of his being healthy are slim and none. The odds of Fashanu being able to play at a pretty high level are much better than Bakhtiari's being healthy. If Bakhtiari isn't healthy at that point, then what? Do you really think that Warren could play at a good enough level to keep the season from going down the drain? I don't.
I'd love to hear why you think Carter Warren has no shot at developing into a quality starter, especially if he spends a year learning from one of the best LTs the game has seen in the last decade and a half.
He could. I guess that anything is possible, but I'll believe it when I see it. He wasn't thought of as that great a prospect before his draft. Only JD saw him as a 1st round talent. He doesn't appear that athletic or to have very good lateral agility. He has had injury issues as well.
Im not forgetting about the future, I just don’t think any OT is worth 10 overall except Alt and Fashanu. I’m all for drafting any of the others if we trade down.
We can't necessarily assume a 1st round OT is going to be a sure thing to be able to step in and start at a high level in his rookie year. It would be nice to have great OT prospect with the top pick for 2024 depth and looking to the future, but it has to be one who fits. Also some of the guys who could be in play at 10/the 1st only have experience at RT. Any of the swing tackle options I mentioned are guys who are experienced and have started in the NFL recently. It's not realistic to expect to get a higher end starting-caliber OT to be a backup unless we do happen to hit big on a draft pick. So I'd be happy with an OT at 10, but I'm also not sure I'd rather reach for an OT than take Rome Odunze if he's still there.
I just hope with the tenth pick we select a contributor able to man the position of need for the long term. Will all due respect to all the passionate fans here who are clamoring for a OL or bust I suggest we need to remember that they are all prospects. Some will excel at the next level and some will not. Particularly in year one. No different than any other position. There are no guarantees. And all the jubilation now if JD jumps in at ten and goes for an OL at any cost, the same people with turn in a nano second if the pick fails. And they will be looking at the board and say…we could have had so and so in the blank round or have an amazing WR at ten etc etc. I say to JD, pick the one that your team thinks can be the biggest contributor in the short term and with the biggest chance of success to man the position in the long run. At the end of the day, is his head, and no matter who he picks, WR, OL, T you name him, he will be critiqued if it fails and praised if he excels. The rest is hind sight and fan wishful thinking.
For what it's worth, I agree that the only two OTs worth taking at #10 are Alt and Fashanu. If Fashanu is there, I think the Jets have to take him. If not, hopefully they can trade down a few spots and then take an OT. If they can't trade down, I'd still advocate taking one of Fuaga and Mims at #10. I'm not gonna put value over filling a major need. Even if would be a bit of a reach to take either at #10, if they became very good/great players for the Jets, no one would care or remember that they were a bit of a reach at #10. Remember that NFL teams rank players differently than the media "experts." A number of people have Fuaga rated that high (#10). The only knock is that he is a RT, not a LT. The only reason Mims isn't ranked higher is that he has a bit of an injury history and only has 8 games of experience, but he is a freak physically, and could wind up being better than Alt or Fashanu. Some would include Latham in that group, but Latham is scary to me, both because of the history of most Alabama OL not doing well in the NFL and because of his penchant for committing holding penalties. He also has a bit of an injury history. I wouldn't take him at #10 if Mims or Fuaga were there, and might not take him at all, but at least he's played against top competition and has the tools to work with.
I get your point, but you also can't blindly select a WR either. To me it is not even close between Harrison/Nabers and Odunze. You said Nabers ran 4.4s, well he didn't. Nabers just ran 4.35. And looking at the film that's what I would expect. Looking at Rome's film, he does not get open as much as others, and I was not surprised by his slower speed at 40. Basically no surprises there as the times for both these guys matched the film. And the film says that Nabers can get open much easier, while Odunze has to make a tough contested catch, which to his credit he did a lot, but getting separation is an issue. To me while I like him as a 1st round guy, perhaps a top 20 guy, maybe even top 15, but there are other good prospects at top 10. If Nabers, Harrison, and Alt are gone (almost certainly) I think the next best prospects happen to be the ones that are OTs. This is not blindly going OT. This is picking a better OT prospect than a WR one. I think guys like Olu and possibly Latham are better prospects than Odunze. Olu, like Odunze, was a consensus all American. Latham was second team all American, but is a year younger, and the tape looks really good. Both could be long term LT solutions, also plays premium position. Most likely one of them will be available, hopefully Olu. This is not blindly picking an OT over a WR. These are as good or better prospects than Odunze IMO, who also match the position of need.
Was last three years not a reality? It did feel like it was a dream, but unfortunately it was very real.
That wasn’t my question though. I’m asking what team can sustain 8 OL injuries. Who has starting caliber players piled 3 deep on their tackle depth chart? No one.
True…no one can sustain that many injuries to one position group and have that group still be good, least of all OL that requires the 5 guys to all be on the same page. However, that’s neither here nor there. The issue is that our OL sucked last year, and while we greatly improved both tackle spots, the honest truth is that both are older and while Moses has been on the field, the scary part is that Smith has missed time every single season for years now. So it’s to be expected that having him play a full season is not likely, and in fact it’s far more feasible that he will miss a few games. Just is what it is. So regardless of what other teams do or do not have, we should go into the season expecting that one or more of our backup tackles will need to play, at least a few games. So for us, that third tackle will likely play. Hopefully not much. But likely at least a few games. Not sure Warren is up to the task. Don’t think Mitchell is. That means we need to go get a solid backup/swing OT. Is that Baktiari? Who knows, but that dude has missed more games than Smith, so not the most solid of options. To me, coming out of round 1 with an OT that can play would be my preference. I do think we still need help at WR also, because Mike Williams is very good but he’s coming off his own injury. I would prefer our first two picks are some combo of OT and WR.
This is a hypothetical question though, we have 2 older starting OTs now who are either coming off major surgery or injury prone period. We don't even have single solid back-up. And Carter Warren is not it. This is a 25 year old later 4th round pick who was over drafted even at that spot, injury prone, coming off a bad rookie season. Sure, it's not impossible he develops into a good player, but there are huge odds to overcome at this point, so don't bet your life savings on it just yet. Remember one year when we actually did have a decent OT back-up - that was Moses in 2021. He ended up playing every game. OT is not a waste of a pick, particularly if you can get a high caliber player like Olu. I agree with you that perhaps we should not overreach, so I am definitely not picking Fautanu or even Fuaga at 10, but Olu could be there, trade down is an option, Latham looks good on film and has good OT frame. There is some real talent at OT spot this year where we could make an OT selection with or without trade down without reaching.
I know people disagree, but I feel Fuaga will settle in as a G that can slide to T when needed in a pinch or end up being a avg RT. Similar to AVT. I grade him in the 20s.
I have never criticized JD or any GM for picking a player or position that I wanted him to make and then things didn't pan out. There are never any guarantees. All any GM can do is to do the best research and background checks that he can, then use common sense, sound logic and team building philosophy and then roll the dice. Not every pick is going to pan out, but the odds of picks at some positions panning out are much better than picks at other positions. 1st round OTs bust at a much lower rate than 1st round TEs or WRs or QBs. In this specific situation, OT is the most logical and rational pick. To date, neither Carter nor Mitchell have played well and given any remote indication that they could develop into solid starters. Our LT is 33 and injury prone. Just last season Rodgers went down in the 1st game because of poor LT play. If he goes down again with a serious injury the season is over. If JD wants to save his job, the best thing he could do is to finally ensure that the OL is fixed for this season and mostly fixed for 2025. We've had to worry about the LT position every year since Brick retired. The fact that some posters have forgotten that and just dismiss it is nuts imo. I'm not worried about Moses, as the 3 games he missed last year and the one game he missed with the Jets in 2021 were the first games he hadn't played in since 2014 (his rookie season). In his previous season with the Jets, he didn't start one game, but played in it. He is only signed to a one-year deal, however. Maybe JD will be able to sign him to an extension, but maybe he won't. I'm only worried about the LT position. Smith hasn't started or played in every game since the 2015 season. In two of the last 4 seasons he played less than 5 games. In the other two he missed 6 games (2021) and 4 games (2023) and someone said that he left 3-4 others early. There is a strong likelihood that the backup LT will not only play but need to start at least 3-4 games this season, maybe more, and we need an LT starter for next season. It makes total sense to draft Smith's replacement, let him learn from Smith and Moses, and play when Smith goes down this season. It makes more sense than it does to draft a WR who will be the 3rd option this season and then the #2 next season, and more sense than it does to take a TE when we already have two good TEs, that our OC doesn't use effectively or enough anyway, and the odds of that OC being able or willing to revise his scheme to focus on the TE are remote. When one considers how bad our OL has been for the last 5-10 seasons and the amount of injuries our OL have sustained on the turf in MetLife, it makes even more sense to take an OT in the 1st round.
There are only two reasons why I think Fuaga would play OG in the NFL. One is because the team that drafts him already has a very good RT. The other is that the GM and HC of the team that drafts him are stupid. There is a shortage of quality OTs in the NFL. There are always at least decent, if not good OGs available. IMO there is no reason that Fuaga should play OG in the NFL.
If Alt, Fashanu, Harrison, Nabers, Odunze, are off the board (which has a fair likelihood of happening), and you can't find a trade down partner giving a second round pick. Bowers is absolutely the right choice (I would still be tempted to take him if Fashanu or Odunze we on the board). Anything else at T/WR is a reach. Yet half this board will lose their minds if the Jets pick him in that situation. Get out of your head that Bowers is a TE, he is a hybrid offensive weapon that will be a threat or decoy that needs to be accounted for when he is on the field, he changes thre entire dynamic of the offense. That said am I still uncomfortable about the back up T position in it's current state? Yes,, I am but not enough to use the tenth pick for a reach that may not work out anyway.
I don't accept that the Jets have had poor OL play. They have had poor QB play, and the easiest culprit to blame is the OL. Nothing fixes an offense better than a good QB and now we have a very good QB in Rodgers, assuming he is the old Rodgers. JD has addressed the OL with two FA signings in Smith and Moses, so I don't see the urgency of drafting an OT for this draft. If I'm the GM and drafting #10, with a solid O lineup, now that Rodgers is back, I'd want a guy who can win a game in one play, so to me that means one of the top 3 WRs or the TE. However, given the importance of LT, if either of Fashanu or Alt is there, I wouldn't be unhappy with that pick either.
I don’t think he’s gonna be a great RT. I definitely don’t think he’ll be a great RT on day one. I think he settles in at G after struggling at RT early on. Down the line I think he’d be an admirable fill in at RT Ala AVT for sure. But there’s no way I value him at 10 overall.
