May I remind you how Rodgers got hurt in the first place again? OL was awful, and poor QB play does not excuse this. We had Mike White hurt and stink at the end of 2022, Flacco stunk end of 2022, and so did everyone else, including small sample size of Rodgers. All of the sudden Flacco looks good with Browns. And Siemien hasn't looked as bad before either. OL is 100% a huge problem.
Rodgers didn’t get hurt because of the OL. He got hurt because he was gun shy to throw the ball to a wide open GW.
nabers ran a hand timed 4.35 at his pro day. pro day times are notoriously faster than combine times.
if nabers or odunze is there at eight, would you trade a fourth to atlanta to jump the bears? atlanta would likely still get the player at ten that they were targeting at eight, and they get a free pick out of the deal
OK, I watched this play at least 100 times from all 22. Uzomah was the read. AR's head is turned to his right. He failed to get open. GW was next read and coming from lefty he did get open, but by that time protection failed and Rodgers has to run. Yes he was wide open, but that was too late due to complete lack of pass pro. If Duane didn't fall like doofus and actually blocked, giving him just a tick more, it's a big gain. Look, OL was a problem last year, a major problem. Frankly this is something even a blind man could see, and even JD admitted that too. I am not sure something this obvious even needs debating. This is not to say QBs have been great, but OL stunk by any objective account.
I don't know, it looked pretty fast the way he ran, and more importantly he gets open a lot on film. Odunze does not. There is a huge gap between these two prospects IMO. One is top 5, the other is perhaps top 15. Both are good, but there is a significant gap there.
The cause of Rodgers injury was more a factor of age than poor OL. A QB has to expect some pressure. You can't expect to go through an entire season without having your QB pressured or sacked even if you're the NE Patriots and Tom Brady.
Will Jets F... Up the 10th pick? Fashanu Fatuanu Fuaga Considering Alt will be gone for sure, which one of the F's above will Jets go with. Which F will be f'ed up and which F will flourish in the end?
And what was the cause of Mike White's broken ribs and Zach's concussion? Look, I get it that injury was freaky, but OL fucking sucks and allows a lot of hits. Again, I don't think there is a debate there.
Totally disagree on your take here… 1. Our OL has objectively been WAY below average…not sure how you can claim otherwise…yes, better QB play in terms of making faster decisions and getting the ball out would have helped masked the poor OL play to some extent, but if your argument is that our OL wasn’t poor play, not sure how to argue that. It was poor. It was FAR below average. That one play that got Rodgers hurt was on Brown…he tried a poor cut block attempt that the DE went right by. Come on now… 2. If your second point is that JD addressed the tackle spots in free agency, yes I agree we got two huge upgrades. But the part I think you’re discounting is the fact that Smith hasn’t played a full season in years, that both are on the wrong side of 30, and just based on age and recent history, assuming that both tackles will play all year is NOT a smart bet. Hopefully Smith doesn’t miss any games, but that’s not likely given his recent track record, so then we’re down to hopefully he doesn’t miss more than like 2 or 3 games. Otherwise we are in huge trouble because having to rely on the likes of Mitchell or Warren to play significant amount of games is going to ruin the season…we’ve already seen what that’s like. Neither guy is up for it, unless they somehow make a HUGE miraculous leap. I’m not holding my breath. So of course, JD may yet get another tackle in free agency…that’s possible…we’ll see. But to say that our OL is now set to me is still a huge risk due to injury. And yes, any player can get hurt at any time, I get that, but when Smith specifically hasn’t been able to deliver a full season in years, it’s not a smart bet, to me, to expect him to do so this year. So yah, our OL is much improved and I’m glad JD finally addressed it in free agency, but if I’m in JD’s seat, I don’t think we’re done addressing it. Not by a long shot. I’d love a great WR, but for sure neither Nabers nor Harrison will be there…maybe Odunze, maybe not. I am not sold on TE at 10…unless Bowers is the second coming of Gronk or Kelce, no thanks to a top ten TE. Historically highly drafted TE’s often don’t live up to the promise…and neither Kelce or Gronk were top ten picks anyway. And I doubt he’s as good as those guys. But yah, if the top two tackles and the top three WR’s are gone at 10, we’re kind of in a bad spot…
It’s much easier to create separation out of the slot, which is where nabers lined up the majority of the time. This separation argument is the same one that was used to try and knock Hopkins, AJ Brown, and Jamar Chase and they became all pro receivers. They’re all big body guys, who are technicians, and catch everything (oduze has the lowest drop percentage of the big three receivers btw). I think odunze is of that ilk.
Yeah Odunze is definitely a contested catch maker. I still see Davante Adams in him down the line but that’s if he learns to destroy defensive backs with suddenness off the LOS. Prototypical X and I think Hopkins is a fair comparison as well.
I don't recall separation being a problem for Chase in College. He also ran 4.34. If anything Nabers is closer comparison to him than Rome. Again it does not mean Rome will be a bust, but it is an obstacle that lowers his probability of becoming a great NFL player. Just because AJ Brown (who was selected in the second round btw) beat the odds, doesn't mean we can ignore this weakness now for everyone else. All I am saying it is that it is an important aspect that needs to be considered in prospect evaluation and does lower Rome's value as a prospect.
There was definitely talk about chases ability to separate due to the number of contested catches he made. He also ran a pro day, hand timed, 4.38 on lsu’s fast track. Where aj brown was picked is irrelevant. In a re-draft, he’s going top ten. Sure, the ability to separate is a big deal for receivers but Rome does it well, maybe not as well as nabers but he’s good at it. Getting on top of a corner and shielding them from making a play is creating separation. When you account for him being three inches taller, having longer arms, and having better hands, that difference is creating separation is negligible imo.
Good article. But there's another element that isn't discussed - and is discussed very little anywhere else: how much the acquiring team has the ability to mold and develop the player to their highest level. This has been the single greatest lacking with the Jets for decades - across almost all positions, but especially QB. So you can't just say, "The odds favor a team sticking with a high pick and taking a QB they believe will work out", The most recent proof that this doesn't work without having the ability to develop a QB of course is Zach, but before him Darnold, and then Geno, Sanchez, and on and on. Most Jets fans simply said, "Well those guys sucked. The failure was in drafting poorly." And there's likely some truth to that, but I believe the greater failure has always been the Jets' inability to develop a QB, including establishing an offense around their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses; making sure you have a good OL so they can have time to learn the speed of the game and how to run an offense without having to run for their life; making sure you have reliable weapons for them to use so they don't have to feel like they have to play "hero ball". If you don't have that, then it's best to trade back for a "bag".
The Jets need to draft for years beyond 2024. Teams always should. That’s what the Packers, Steelers, Ravens, etc. always do. I don’t see why Bowers doesn’t fit that mold or one of the receivers. It does feel eerily Jets draft blunder-y to pass on taking a tackle in what could be one of the best tackles drafts ever, because they have two 33 year olds starting this year who won’t be on the roster next year.
More context: Mahomes was picked by a guy with a proven track record as an offensive mind. IOW: Do you think Mahomes would've been anywhere near as good being coached by Bowles and Gase (even though I dearly wanted Mahomes and I still believe he would've been successful here, even if he wasn't spectacular)? Drafting and eventual success is heavily dependent on where the player winds up.
